Kainate, a double agent that generates seizures: two decades of progress

Studies using kainate, an excitatory amino acid extracted from a seaweed, h ave provided major contributions to the understanding of epileptogenesis. H ere we review pioneering and more recent studies aimed at determining how k ainate generates seizures and, in particular, how inhibition is altered dur ing seizures. We focus on target and subunit-specific effects of kainate on hippocampal pyramidal neurons and interneurons that lead to an excitation of both types of neurons and thus to the parallel increase of glutamatergic and GABAergic spontaneous currents. We propose that kainate excites all it s targets, the net consequence depending on the level of activity of the ne twork.