MONITORING OF BRAIN SPIKING ACTIVITY AND AUTOANTIBODIES TO N-TERMINUSDOMAIN OF GLUR1 SUBUNIT OF AMPA RECEPTORS IN BLOOD-SERUM OF RATS WITHCOBALT-INDUCED EPILEPSY

We have monitored EEG spontaneous spiking activity and analyzed serum from rats with cobalt-induced epilepsy for the presence of autoreactiv e antibodies to alpha l-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4-propionate (AMPA) glutamate receptor subunits, The presence and the level of aut oantibodies were assessed using immunoblot and ELISA with synthetic pe ptide specific to the N-terminus domain of the GluR1 subunit of the AM PA receptor. Rats with cobalt-induced epilepsy exhibited strong GluR1 immunoreactivity at the end of the first week after surgery compared w ith vehicle-treated rats. We showed that GluR1 autoantibodies in blood serum of rats with cobalt-induced epilepsy preceded the spiking activ ity maximum in the EEG. Levels of autoantibodies to GluR1 detected in blood of these rats remained elevated when EEG spiking activity was si gnificantly reduced and seizures disappeared. The EEG monitoring of sp iking activity showed a correlation with accumulation of GluR1 autoant ibodies in blood serum of rats with cobalt-induced epilepsy.