Phenobarbital administration directed against kindled seizures delays functional recovery following brain insult

Anti-convulsant drug administration or recurrent seizures can impact functi onal recovery following brain insult. The nature of that impact depends on a variety of factors, including timing of drug administration and drug mech anism of action, as well as seizure number, timing, and severity. The objec tive of this study was to determine the functional consequences of anti-con vulsant administration directed against seizure activity in brain-damaged a nimals. To this end, phenobarbital was coupled with daily electrical kindli ng of the amygdala beginning 48 h after a unilateral anteromedial cortex le sion. Recovery from somatosensory deficits was assessed, as was regional at rophy and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) expression. Animals receivi ng phenobarbital prior to daily kindling failed to recover within 2 months of testing. In contrast, animals receiving saline prior to kindling as well as phenobarbital-treated non-kindled animals recovered within 2 months aft er the lesion. Though the exact mechanisms underlying these behavioral phen omena remain uncertain, patterns of bFGF expression among the groups provid e some insight. Taken together, results from the present study suggest that anti-convulsant drug administration directed against subclinical seizure a ctivity can be more detrimental to functional recovery than seizures alone or anti-convulsant drug treatment after seizure activity has occurred. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.