Animal models of temporal lobe epilepsy following systemic chemoconvulsant administration

Abstract

In order to understand the pathophysiology of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), and thus to develop new pharmacological treatments, in vivo animal models that present features similar to those seen in TLE patients have been developed during the last four decades. Some of these models are based on the systemic administration of chemoconvulsants to induce an initial precipitating injury (status epilepticus) that is followed by the appearance of recurrent seizures originating from limbic structures. In this paper we will review two chemically-induced TLE models, namely the kainic acid and pilocarpine models, which have been widely employed in basic epilepsy research. Specifically, we will take into consideration their behavioral, electroencephalographic and neuropathologic features. We will also evaluate the response of these models to anti-epileptic drugs and the impact they might have in developing new treatments for TLE.

The pilocarpine model of temporal lobe epilepsy: Marked intrastrain differences in female Sprague–Dawley rats and the effect of estrous cycle

“…3 Significantly different from HW-SD (P b 0.05). 4 Significantly different from HW-SD (P b 0.0001). 5 …”

“…The disabling seizures associated with TLE are often resistant to antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) so that animal models of TLE are important to develop more effective AEDs or alternative therapeutic strategies for TLE [2]. The pilocarpine and lithium-pilocarpine rat models are the most widely used animal models of TLE [3,4]. These models were first described by Honchar et al [5] and Turski et al [6], who showed that systemic intraperitoneal administration of pilocarpine in rodents was followed by a sequence of automatisms and motor limbic seizures evolving into status epilepticus (SE) and that pretreatment with lithium markedly potentiated the convulsant activity of pilocarpine.…”

“…Wistar and SD rats are outbred, and outbred strains are known to be genetically heterogeneous populations with a high intrastrain variation [16,17]. Furthermore, apart from genetics, intrastrain differences in SE models can also be due to factors related to the environment in which the animals are bred [4]. The marked inter-and intrastrain differences reported in kindling and SE models provide an interesting tool to study the impact of genetic and environmental factors on seizure susceptibility, epileptogenesis, and relationship between behavior and epilepsy and vice versa.…”

Anticonvulsant and behavioral effects observed in mice following treatment with an ester derivative of ferulic acid: Isopentyl ferulate

“…The experimental procedure of seizure induced by pilocarpine in rodents (Rattus norvegicus and Mus musculus) is one of the main model used to study epilepsy and still reproduces the main characteristics of temporal lobe epilepsy in adult humans [37,38].…”

Cannabidiol exerts antiepileptic effects by restoring hippocampal interneuron functions in a temporal lobe epilepsy model

“…TLE can be examined in an array of animal TLE models, unlike other human epilepsies (Kandratavicius et al, 2014; Levesque et al, 2016). Factors such as cell death, neurogenesis and neuronal circuit reorganization have been attributed as causes of the disease process (Alexander et al, 2016), as well as a prominent long‐standing hypothesis of the primary cause of epilepsy – ion channel abnormalities.…”