No abstract

SUMMARYThe effects of prenatal PTZ treatment on convulsive threshold for PTZ and spontaneously occurring spike-wave discharges (SWD) were studied in WAG/Rij rats. Pregnant females were either repeatedly injected with PTZ (40 mg/kg i.p.) or saline. The offspring were divided into four groups that were challenged with PTZ at one of the following postnatal days (PD): 40-th, 70-th, lOO-th and 130-th. The PTZ pre-treated group had a higher PTZ seizure threshold than the control at PD 40, 100 and 130, not at PD 70: than the control group had a higher threshold. Next there was an agedependent decrease in seizure threshold and latency.EEG monitoring at the age of 1 lo-140 days showed a lower number of SWD for WAGLRij rats prenatally treated with PTZ than for the control group. These results demonstrate that prenatal PTZ treatment protects rats against PTZ-induced seizures and SWD.