Establishment of a modified amygdala kindling model of epilepsy in rats

Objective To establish a reliable,practical and modified amygdala kindling epilepsy model in rats. Methods Fifty-five male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 3 groups:10 in the blank control group, 10 in the sham-operated group and 35 in the kindling group. The amygdala of the rats in the kindling group was stimulated with constant pulse current with frequency of 50 Hz, pulse duration of 1.0 ms.and train duration of 1 s for the initial 5 days and train duration of 10 s for the subsequent days. Rats' seizures and electroencephalogram were recorded throughout the stimulation process. TUNEL staining and immunohistochemical staining of GFAP were performed to evaluate the neuronal death and gliosis in the hippocampus of the kindled rats. Results Twenty-six rats were kindled successfully 15. 85 ± 5. 04 days after the kindling began. The expression of GFAP in the hippocampus of kindled rats (67.26 ±4.52) was significantly stronger than that in the sham-operated group (43. 73 ± 1. 71) and the blank control group (46.51 ±3.83) (P<0.05). TUNEL staining positive cells in the hippocampus of kindled rats (26.03± 2.57) were significantly more than those in the sham-operated group (11.36 ±2.09) and the blank control group (10.28 ±2.34) (P<0.05). Conclusion The modified amygdala kindling epilepsy model resembles the human temporal lobe epilepsy and is a favorable tool for the research of the mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. Key words: Epilepsy; Amygdala; Hippocampus; Model, animal