Apoptotic and necrotic cell death following kindling induced seizures

Acta Histochem. 1997 Mar;99(1):71-9. doi: 10.1016/S0065-1281(97)80010-4.

Abstract

The study was designed to determine which type of cell death occurs following kindling induced seizures, and to determine which neurons die. For this purpose seizures were kindled from the entorhinal cortex. Following a range of 5-85 stage 5 seizures, rats were sacrificed, and the tissue was prepared for analysis. The TUNEL and silver impregnation methods were used to identify apoptotic or necrotic cell death, respectively. These methods were subsequently combined with immunocytochemistry, to determine if diseased neurons expressed somatostatin or the NMDA receptor (NMDAR1). The tissue analysis demonstrated that following kindling induced seizures, 1) hippocampal and extrahippocampal neurons die, 2) some neurons die through apoptosis, others through necrosis, and 3) some of the diseased neurons express somatostatin, others the NMDAR1 and that both subpopulations of neurons are present at hippocampal and extrahippocampal sites.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Apoptosis / physiology*
  • Cerebral Cortex / pathology
  • Electric Stimulation
  • Hippocampus / pathology
  • Kindling, Neurologic / pathology*
  • Male
  • Necrosis
  • Neurons / pathology
  • Rats
  • Rats, Sprague-Dawley
  • Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / immunology
  • Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / metabolism
  • Seizures / etiology
  • Seizures / pathology*
  • Somatostatin / immunology
  • Somatostatin / metabolism

Substances

  • NMDA receptor A1
  • Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate
  • Somatostatin