Analyses of the molecular basis of kindling development

Kindling has become the most widely studied animal model of limbic epilepsy. Understanding the molecular basis of kindling development may provide novel therapeutic approaches to prevention of limbic epileptogenesis. I briefly describe the kindling model and outline the basis for my thinking that kindling represents a synaptic reorganization triggered by pathologic activity in the mature nervous system. The pathologic activity is postulated to evoke a cascade of gene expression driven, at least in part, by glutamate receptor activation. Evidence in support of this hypothesis is presented, as are future challenges that permit critical tests of these ideas.