Lithium-pilocarpine status epilepticus in the immature rabbit

Although status epilepticus in children is associated with neuronal pathologies, there are few developmental models of status epilepticus which produce damage in the immature brain. We have developed a new model of status epilepticus using systemically injected pilocarpine in immature rabbits pretreated with lithium. Injected animals demonstrated behavioral and electrographic seizures. Behavioral seizures were characterized by sustained or recurrent bouts of clonus in all limbs. The pilocarpine-induced seizures had a 40% mortality. All animals surviving the status epilepticus had hippocampal lesions when evaluated 48 h after the SE. Within the hippocampus, CA1 pyramidal cells were the most vulnerable cell population. Extrahippocampal damage was seen in the majority of animals. Our results show that severe seizures cause hippocampal lesions in the absence of hypoxemia and suggest that the presumed resistance of the immature brain to seizure-induced damage is not a general rule which can be applied to all models or species.