[Cellular-molecular mechanisms of kindling]

Kindling is a phenomenon in which repeated application of an initially subcunvulsive stimulus to the certain sites of the brain results in progressive reduction of the threshold for induction of seizure activity. Following its discovery, kindling became a one of the major focus of neuruscientific investigations because of the similarities between this phenomenon and the progressive development of human epilepsy after head injury. However, kindling is not only the model of epileptogenesis but is considered as the model of activity-dependent form of neuroplasticity which is responsible for the development of cellular-molecular and network events producing the dicordered firing of subpopulations of neurons. Although kindling is fundamentally a network phenomenon, the most basic manifestation of the hyperexcitability characteristic of kindling can be evident at the level of a single neuron. The purpose of the present review is to integrate the data obtained recently about an involvement of voltage-dependent membrane channels, synaptic processed, second messenger systems and transcription factors in the cellular-molecular mechanisms leading to the induction, spreading and maintenance of seizure activity during kindling. The relationships between long-term potentiation and kindling model of epileptogenesis are also discussed.