Interactions between hippocampal penicillin spikes and theta rhythm.

The relationships between theta rhythm and epileptic spikes, evoked by penicillin, were studied in the rat hippocampus. Records were taped and processed off-line, and autocorrelation functions, averages and power spectra of the EEG and frequency histograms of the epileptic spikes were calculated. Results showed that: (1) epileptic spikes tend to occur in a preferred phase of theta rhythm; (2) they provoked a reset of the phase of theta rhythm, acting as internal stimuli; (3) epileptic spikes decreased in frequency and were often abolished when theta rhythm was evoked; (4) these effects appeared to be dependent on the medial septal pathway. These findings indicate the existence of an antagonism between two hippocampal phenomena (epilepsy and theta rhythm). On the other hand, they also seem to be interrelated since the generation of one is accompanied by a reciprocal decrease in the other.