Automated EEG monitoring in defining a chronic epilepsy model

There has been a recent surge of interest in chronic animal models of epilepsy. Proper assessment of these models requires documentation of spontaneous seizures by EEG, observation, or both in each individual animal to confirm the presumed epileptic condition. We used the same automatic seizure detection system as that currently used for patients in our institution and many others. Electrodes were implanted in 43 rats before intraamygdalar administration of kainic acid (KA). Animals were monitored intermittently for 3 months. Nine of the rats were protected by anticonvulsants [pentobarbital (PB) and diazepam (DZP)] at the time of KA injection. Between 1 and 3 months after KA injection, spontaneous seizures were detected in 20 of the 34 unprotected animals (59%). Surprisingly, spontaneous seizures were also detected during the same period in 2 of the 9 protected animals that were intended to serve as nonepileptic controls. Although the absence of confirmed spontaneous seizures in the remaining animals cannot exclude their occurrence, it indicates that, if present, they are at least rare. On the other hand, definitive proof of epilepsy is invaluable in the attempt to interpret pathologic data from experimental brains.