State disorders and state-dependent seizures in amygdala-kindled cats

This study replicated and extended previous work indicating a reciprocal relationship between persistent sleep disorders and seizure susceptibility in amygdala-kindled cats. Eight kindled cats (experimental group) and six nonkindled cats (control group) were assessed for several sleep and waking state parameters. Seizure susceptibility, indexed by thresholds to generalized afterdischarge and tonic-clonic convulsions, was also evaluated in experimental subjects during each of the following states: alert but quiet wakefulness, slow-wave sleep, transitions from slow-wave to REM sleep, and REM sleep. There were two primary findings: (i) slow-wave sleep and transitions from it to REM sleep were disrupted in amygdala-kindled cats whereas REM sleep was normal when an effective transition had been made; and (ii) disturbed states were also more susceptible to generalized seizures than were stable REM sleep and waking episodes, suggesting that abnormal rather than normal sleep created a predisposition for seizures.