FOS IN LOCUS-COERULEUS NEURONS FOLLOWING AUDIOGENIC-SEIZURE IN THE GENETICALLY EPILEPSY-PRONE RAT - COMPARISON TO ELECTROSHOCK AND PENTYLENETETRAZOL SEIZURE MODELS

Seizures in genetically epilepsy-prone rats (GEPRs) may result from hy poactivity of locus coeruleus (LC) neurons during seizures. This study examined Fos-like-immunoreactivity (FLI) in the LC following audiogen ic seizures in two strains of GEPRs (GEPR-9s and -3s), and following p entylenetetrazol (PTZ) or maximal electroshock seizures (MES) in norma l rats. After tonic seizure, GEPR-9s showed an identical LC-FLI respon se to that of normal rats following tonic seizures induced by either P TZ or MES. GEPR-3s, having clonic seizures, had less FLI in the LC. Th erefore, stimulus-transcription coupling in the GEPR LC is apparently normo-typic in its FLI response to seizure and thus is not likely the root cause of NE abnormalities in this seizure model. (C) 1997 Elsevie r Science Ireland Ltd.