ABSTRACT
Direct cortical (DC) high frequency electrical stimulation in humans was shown to occasionally induce post-stimulation epileptic activity that may evolve into electroencephalographic and behavioral seizures. Although DC electrical stimulation induces focal epileptic activity, it was previously shown that an additional direct electrical stimulation of the cortical area of focal seizure onset might suppress the afterdischarges (ADs). The chapter shows that short duration high frequency DC electrical stimulation of the rat brain can be used as a model of neocortical seizures. DC electrical stimulation has been shown to induce epileptic ADs and seizures in human patients and animals. The effect of high frequency electrical DC stimulation on seizure induction remains unknown. ADs and both focal and secondary generalized electrocorticographic and behavioral seizures were induced at various high frequency currents. Threshold and duration of ADs were calculated and compared for each stimulation frequency using analysis of variance.
