ABSTRACT
Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) is a rare but devastating outcome, and respiratory dysfunction following generalized convulsive seizure is the most common sequence of events observed in SUDEP cases that have been witnessed. Several neurotransmitters are known to be released during generalized seizures, observations that have led to the investigation of potential neurotransmitter involvement in SUDEP in seizure models. These models include dilute brown non-Agouti (DBA)/1 and DBA/2 mice that exhibit generalized convulsive seizures in response to high-intensity acoustic stimuli, called audiogenic seizures, which provoke seizure-induced respiratory arrest in a large percentage of DBA mice. By contrast, other seizure models that exhibit audiogenic seizures, such as genetically epilepsy-prone rats (GEPR-9s), rarely exhibit seizure-induced death.
