Interictal cerebral metabolic levels in Wistar rats sensitive to audiogenic seizures.

In the present study, we compared interictal local cerebral metabolic rates for glucose (LCMRglcs) in a strain of audiogenic rats (Wistar AS) selected in our laboratory to interictal LCMRglcs in a strain of control non-epileptic (NE) rats. Two groups of Wistar AS were studied, one group exposed to a single audiogenic seizure and one group of kindled rats exposed to 40 daily repetitive seizures. Control NE animals were exposed to a single sound exposure which did not induce any behavioral disturbance. Interictal LCMRglcs were measured by the quantitative autoradiographic [14C]2-deoxyglucose technique 5 days after the last sound exposure. LCMRglcs were similar in the three groups of rats in 80% of the structures. Compared to the control NE strain, interictal metabolic levels were mainly decreased in auditory structures of Wistar AS, either naive or kindled, thus confirming auditory impairment in audiogenic animals. LCMRglcs were increased over control levels in both groups of Wistar AS in cerebellar regions. This increase of cerebellar functional activity in Wistar AS compared to control NE rats might reflect an increased cerebellar input which, together with auditory impairment, may facilitate the induction of seizure activity in Wistar AS. Finally, there was no difference between the interictal cerebral metabolic level of naive and kindled Wistar AS, except in the cerebellar dentate nucleus where LCMRglc was significantly higher in kindled than in naive animals.