KINDLING-INDUCED NEUROGENESIS IN THE DENTATE GYRUS OF THE RAT

Kindling, a form of neuronal plasticity produced by repeated low inten sity electrical brain stimulation, leads to epileptic seizures. To add ress possible causes of this phenomenon, we have prepared amygdala-kin dled animals and measured neurogenesis, by bromodeoxyuridine incorpora tion. Early, when focal seizures were present, there was no evidence o f a change in the rate of hippocampal neurogenesis. In contrast, durin g the later phases of kindling, when secondary generalization was well established and motor seizures were present, neurogenesis was enhance d by 75-140%, depending on the hippocampal region. Double labelling wi th the neuron-specific marker TOAD-64 demonstrated the presence of num erous new-born granule neurons in the kindled animals. We propose that the newly-born neurons contribute to the cellular changes and behavio ral symptoms associated with this type of epileptiform brain plasticit y. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.