ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the methodology for rapid kindling in awake and rapid electrographic kindling in urethane-anesthetized rats. The rapid kindling protocol rapidly increases epileptogenesis, but the animals do not meet the criteria for a stable kindled state after 1 d of stimulation. The kindled seizures in the rapid kindling model appear to involve the same circuits as traditional kindling. This is based on observations of the behavioral seizures. The seizures are forebrain seizures, which begin in the limbic system and then spread to other cortical regions. The use of the kindling model for the study of anticonvulsants has been analyzed by W. M. Burnham. The development of kindling could be used to identify prophylactic treatments that will prevent or attenuate the progression in the severity of epilepsy. The electrographic kindling method allows study of the hippocampal circuit in the intact animal, as opposed to using hippocampal slices or combined entorhinal cortex/hippocampal slices.
