Semidominant expression of absence-like seizure in tremor rats

Tremor rats (tremor homozygous rats) exhibit spontaneous absence-like seizure, which is characterized by a sudden immobility with staring and the appearance of 5- to 7-Hz spike and wave complexes in cortical and hippocampal electroencephalogram (EEG). In this study, we examined the development of the seizure and the mode of inheritance. All tremor homozygous and heterozygous rats exhibited the seizure by 14 and 26 weeks of age, respectively. The frequency and total duration in tremor heterozygous rats were significantly lower in comparison with those in tremor homozygous rats. None of the seven tremor wild-type homozygous rats exhibited the seizure. In an EEG study of backcross progeny of (BN/fMaiKyo x tremor heterozygous rats)F1 (tm/+) x tremor heterozygous rats at 5 months of age, the ratio of rats with and without the seizure was 23:7 (chi 2 = 0.09 for 3:1 ratio). These results suggest that the absence-like seizure is semidominantly expressed, in contrast to other recessive mutant traits in tremor rats.