THE MOLECULAR-BASIS OF KINDLING

Kindling is an experimental model of epilepsy that involves activity-d ependent changes in neuronal structure and function. During kindling, pathological changes may occur at several organizational levels of the nervous system, from alterations in gene-expression in individual neu rons to the loss of specific neuronal populations and rearrangement of synaptic connectivity resulting from sustained stimulation of major e xcitatory pathways. This review summarizes recent developments in alte rations at single neuronal and molecular levels that may be responsibl e for kindling epileptogenesis.