Anti-epileptiform effects of audiogenic seizure priming on in vitro kindling in rat hippocampus

The effect of priming for audiogenic seizures (AGS) on the development of e pileptiform activity in the hippocampus was studied using in vitro kindling (IVK) in Long-Evans rats. AGS priming consists of intense auditory stimula tion during a critical period of auditory development, resulting in sound-i nduced clonic convulsions upon subsequent testing. Between postnatal day (P ND) 28 and 50, slices from subjects primed and sham-primed for AGS on PND 1 8 were used for recording responses in area CA1 of hippocampus following Sc haffer collateral stimulation from stratum radiatum of area CA2/CA3. The de velopmental priming procedure, which enhances auditory brainstem excitabili ty, resulted in fewer afterdischarges in slices from primed subjects across initial IVK stimulation sequences. These results suggest that changes in e xcitability that occur with acoustic priming can initially diminish selecti ve epileptiform response characteristics in forebrain areas such as the hip pocampus. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.