Establishment and evaluation of rat epilepsy model by basolateral amygdala kindling

This study aims to establish a rat epileptic model by basolateral amygdala (BLA) kindling and evaluate its feasibility. Forty male rats were randomly divided into blank group (5 rats; no electrode insertion), sham-operated group (5 rats; the electrodes were inserted in BLA, without electrical stimulation) and kindling group (30 rats; the electrodes were inserted in BLA; the electrical stimulation was performed every day, until reaching the fully kindled state). During the experiment, the video electroencephalograph was synchronously recorded, and the behavior changes were observed. The pathological changes of hippocampus and the expressions of phosphorylated c-Jun N-terminal kinase (P-JNK) in hippocampus were determined. Results showed that, 24 of 29 stimulated rats were successfully kindled, with success rate of 82.8% (24/29). In 24 kindled rats, the grade-5 epilepsy attack occurred on the 8.29 ± 5.31 day, and the kindled state was achieved on the 10.87 ± 3.44 day. No rat died due to epilepsy attack. The after-discharge duration was 32.05-51.65 s. The kindled rats were more irritable than those in the sham-operated group. There was obvious neuronal loss and glial proliferation in hippocampus in kindling group. The expression of P-JNK in hippocampus in kindling group was significantly higher than blank and sham-operated group, respectively (P<0.05). The rat epileptic model by BLA kindling is successfully established. It may be a good tool for investigating the epilepsy mechanism, prevention and treatment.