Anatomical structures demonstrating increased glucose uptake during the various stages of amygdaloid kindling in rats were identified by the 14C-2-deoxyglucose (DG) autoradiographic technique. Partial (stages 1 and 2) seizures were correlated with increased DG uptake in the ipsilateral amygdala and its direct projection fields. The appearance of generalized motor (stages 3,4, and 5) seizures was accompanied by less limbic involvement and recruitment of a bilateral system including substantia nigra, specific and nonspecific thalamic nuclei, globus pallidus, and neocortex. Increased hippocampal DG uptake was correlated with prolonged amygdaloid after discharge duration but not with the behavioral seizure stage. This study does not reveal which of these structures are responsible for the observed behavioral and electrical events and which are activated by them. It does suggest, however, that three discrete anatomical systems underlie the generation of partial seizures, generalized motor seizures, and local after discharge.