Laboratory of Pharmacology, Osaka University of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Takatsuki, Osaka 569-1094, Japan.
Epilepsy Res. 2009 Nov;87(1):70-6. doi: 10.1016/j.eplepsyres.2009.07.012. Epub 2009 Aug 26.
Noda epileptic rat (NER) is a genetic rat model of epilepsy that exhibit spontaneous generalized tonic-clonic (GTC) seizures with paroxysmal discharges. We analyzed the regional expression of Fos-like immunoreactivity (Fos-IR) following GTC seizures in NER to clarify the brain regions involved in the seizure generation. GTC seizures in NER elicited a marked increase in Fos expression in the piriform cortex, perirhinal-entorhinal cortex, insular cortex and other cortices including the motor cortex. In the limbic regions, Fos-IR was highest in the amygdalar nuclei (e.g., basomedial amygdaloid nucleus), followed by the cingulate cortex and hippocampus (i.e., dentate gyrus and CA3). As compared to the above forebrain regions, NER either with or without GTC seizures exhibited only marginal Fos expression in the basal ganglia (e.g., accumbens, striatum and globus pallidus), diencephalon (e.g., thalamus and hypothalamus) and lower brain stem structures (e.g., pons-medulla oblongata). These results suggest that GTC seizures in NER are of forebrain origin and are evoked primarily by activation of the limbic and/or cortical seizure circuits.
诺达癫痫大鼠（NER）是一种遗传性癫痫大鼠模型，表现出自发性全面强直阵挛（GTC）发作伴阵发性放电。我们分析了 GTC 发作后 NER 中 Fos 样免疫反应（Fos-IR）的区域表达，以阐明参与癫痫发作的脑区。NER 中的 GTC 发作引起嗅球皮层、边缘前回-内嗅皮层、岛叶皮层和包括运动皮层在内的其他皮层中 Fos 表达的显著增加。在边缘区域，杏仁核核团（如基底内侧杏仁核）中的 Fos-IR 最高，其次是扣带回皮质和海马（即齿状回和 CA3）。与上述前脑区域相比，无论是否发生 GTC 发作，NER 基底神经节（如伏隔核、纹状体和苍白球）、间脑（如丘脑和下丘脑）和较低的脑干结构（如脑桥-延髓）中仅表现出轻微的 Fos 表达。这些结果表明，NER 中的 GTC 发作起源于前脑，主要由边缘和/或皮质癫痫回路的激活引起。
