Intra-amygdaloid injections of kainic acid: regional metabolic changes and their relation to the pathological alterations.

Kainic acid was injected unilaterally in the amygdala of the rat. Following various delays, 2-deoxy-D-[14C]glucose was given intravenously. Autoradiographs of frontal brain sections showed increased glucose uptake in a number of cerebral structures as compared with controls. Most of these structures belong to, or are closely related to, what is traditionally called the 'limbic system'. The structures that show an increased glucose consumption subsequent to kainic acid injections are, with few exceptions, identical to those that are sensitive to the toxic effect that kainic acid exerts on structures distant to the site of injection. The findings are discussed in relation to the hypothesis that the latter effect is secondary to the epileptogenic properties of kainic acid.