Monoaminergic correlates of kindling.

High-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection was used to measure the regional concentrations of monoamines and metabolites in the brains of rats killed 2 or 4 weeks after kindling of generalized seizures with amygdaloid stimulation. Each kindled rat was compared to a yoked control that received brief trains of non-convulsive low-frequency stimulation of the amygdala. Two weeks after kindling we found a significant depletion of noradrenaline (NA) in the ipsilateral frontal cortex, a significant depletion of serotonin (5-HT) in the stimulated amygdala and contralateral hypothalamus, and no significant changes in concentration of dopamine (DA). Four weeks after kindling we found significant depletions of NA in the stimulated amygdala and ipsilateral hypothalamus, a significant depletion of 5-HT in the ipsilateral hippocampus, and no significant changes in DA. These findings generally fail to replicate previous reports of monoaminergic correlates of kindling. Furthermore, the alterations in monoamines produced by kindling do not fall into a simple and readily interpretable pattern.