Effects of isoflurane on hippocampal seizures at immature rats in vivo.

In the present study we examined the effect of isoflurane on seizure-like activity at hippocampal CA3 pyramidal region of immature rats in vivo. We found that isoflurane in clinically relevant concentrations effectively stops hippocampal seizures. When animal was under isoflurane anesthesia seizure-like activity still can be evoked by application of proconvulstant agents, but this activity was qualitatively different from that obtained in nonanesthetized rats. This observation suggests that the mechanism by which seizures are terminated differ from the mechanism responsible for preventing of the initiation of seizures.