Some evidence that intrahippocampal grafting of noradrenergic neurons suppresses spontaneous seizures in epileptic rats

Pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus leads to widespread limbic forebrain damage in rats and provides a model for studying intractable epilepsy. Noradrenergic neurons in suspension, prepared from the locus coeruleus region of donors on the 13th or 14th gestational day, were microinjected bilaterally into the hippocampus (8 rats) and into the cerebellum (4 rats) or the olfactory bulb (4 rats) of epileptic rats. Three µ1 of suspension was deposited at the rat of 1 µl/min. Control animals were not submitted to surgery (4 rats). After six weels a marked reduction of suppression of spontaneous seizures was observed in intrahippocampally grafted rats. from these preliminary results we suggest that frafts can be used to suppress spontaneous recurrent epleptic seizures

Bilateral microinjection of ethosuximide into the substantia nigra does not prevent amygdala-kindled seizures

Male Wistar rats were sugjected to daily sessions of electrical amygdala kindling until a generalized seixure was observed on five consecutive days. Bilateral microinections (0.5 micronl) of ethosuximide (ETX) (10 pg/micronl) or saline were then administered though guide cannulas into the substantia nigra (pars reticulata). No significant difference was observed between the ETX (N = 8) and saline (N = 8) groups in duration of afterdischarge or in the latency for stage 5 generalized seizures. Our results indicate that ETX applied to the substantia nigra is not effective in suppressing amydala-kindled seizure