Kindling antagonism: mapping of susceptible sites

Previous research has shown that concurrent alternating stimulation of paired limbic sites culminates in kindling of generalized seizures from 1 (dominant) site, whereas the other (suppressed) site supports only focal or partial seizures. This phenomenon has been referred to as kindling antagonism, and it has been proposed that antagonism reflects an arrest of kindling, which is therefore viewed as a non-continuous stepwise process. We have attempted to replicate these important observations in adult rats stimulated in various combinations of forebrain sites. Kindling antagonism was displayed by rats stimulated in the amygdala and the septal area, in the bilateral amygdala, the septal area and the splenium of the corpus callosum, and the amygdala and the cingulate cortex. We also found that antagonism between the amygdala and septal area as well as electrographic and behavioral correlates of alternating stimulation were sensitive to the hemispheric relation of the electrodes and to the order in which the sites received initial stimulations. That is, rats that carried ipsilateral amygdaloid and septal electrodes were less likely to display antagonism when the amygdala was the first site stimulated. On the other hand, we failed to obtain antagonism from rats stimulated in other limbic pairs (e.g. entorhinal cortex and septal areas.