Laminar field potentials and unit activity in the cortex during visual evoked potentials in feline generalized penicillin epilepsy.

Modifications of the visual evoked potential during generalized epilepsy were investigated in feline generalized penicillin epilepsy. Visual evoked potentials and their intracortical profiles were averaged during intraburst periods and during the wave of the spike and wave complex to a fixed latency from the preceding spike. During interburst periods, the evoked potentials showed an increase in the amplitude of the early positive peak and the appearance after a variable latency period of a second consistent peak during the late phase of the evoked potential. Laminar profiles of visual evoked potentials and their current source density analysis compared with the activity of single cortical units suggested an early excitation of neuronal populations at layers II, III and IV, as seen before penicillin, followed by a variable inhibitory period and by a subsequent rebounded excitation at those same levels. In evoked potentials recorded during the wave of the spike and wave complex, the early phase was unchanged and the late positive peak and the corresponding deep sink were greatly reduced or nonexistent, although the rebounded activation of cortical units was still evident. These data support the conclusion that during feline generalized penicillin epilepsy a larger number of cortical neurons are activated and a sequence of excitation-inhibition-excitation, probably involving also subcortical structures, is brought about. Moreover, the inhibitory phase of the spike and wave complex is soon disrupted whenever a consistent sensory stimulus arrives at the cortex.