Effect of hyperthermia on a thalamocortical system in the kitten and the cat: a preliminary study

Hyperthermia produces many changes in the ongoing electrical activity of the brain. One of the responses which fever can induce is seizure activity. The thalamocortical augmenting response, a complex neurophysiological response, has been related to seizure discharges. The changes in that complex neurophysiological response induced by experimental hyperthermia were assessed in adult cats and in kittens, using analytical methodology first developed in adult cats. The effect of two anticonvulsants (phenytoin and valproate) on those hyperthermia-induced changes in the thalamocortical augmenting response were compared in kittens. The differences between the effects of the two anticonvulsants on the thalamocortical augmenting response can be related to the reported clinical differences between the two anticonvulsants in patients with febrile seizures.