Friederike Kienzler-Norwood, L. Costard, Chinmaya Sadangi
Feb 1, 2017
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Influential Citations
22
Citations
Journal
Epilepsia
Abstract
Kainic acid (KA) is a potent glutamate analog that is used to induce neurodegeneration and model temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) in rodents. KA reliably induces severe, prolonged seizures, that is, convulsive status epilepticus (cSE), which is typically fatal without pharmacologic intervention. Although the use of KA to model human epilepsy has proven unquestionably valuable for >30 years, significant variability and mortality continue to confound results. These issues are probably the consequence of cSE, an all‐or‐nothing response that is inherently capricious and uncontrollable. The relevance of cSE to the human condition is dubious, however, as most patients with epilepsy never experienced it. We sought to develop a simple, KA‐based animal model of TLE that avoids cSE and its confounds.