Pentylenetetrazol seizures induce cell suffering but not death in the immature rat brain

To investigate whether long-term functional consequences of status epilepti cus (SE) induced by pentylenetetrazol in 10-day-old rats correlated with ce ll injury and/or death, acid fuchsin and TUNEL staining were performed betw een 4 to 144 h after SE. Acid fuchsin stained hippocampus, amygdala and cer ebral cortex at 24 h but not at 72 and 144 h. No DNA fragmentation was appa rent at any time. Thus, immature neurons subjected to sustained seizures su ffer transiently but survive probably by activating repair processes. (C) 1 999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.