Amygdala kindling in totally cerebellectomized cats

This work describes the effect of total cerebellectomy on the development of kindled seizures produced by daily electrical stimulation of the temporal lobe amygdala. When the kindling was established, the cerebellectomized cats showed an increase in the afterdischarge and in the duration of generalized seizures. Henceforth, this duration increased persistently in the experimental cats, whereas it did not in the controls. Prior to the establishment of generalized seizures, no kindling behavioral stages or EEG differences were observed between experimental and control cats, despite the motor activity in the cerebellectomized cats being associated with persistent ataxia. In these animals there was also an increase in postictal EEG spikes after the establishment of generalized seizures. We conclude that total cerebellectomy induces anatomical and functional changes in the brain stem structures (mainly in the inferior olive and red nucleus) leading to a facilitation of tonic-clonic neocortical activity.