Cute and Chronic Responses to the Convulsant Ilocarpine in Dba/2j and A/j Mice

bstract—Characterizing the responses of different mouse trains to experimentally-induced seizures can provide clues to he genes that are responsible for seizure susceptibility, and actors that contribute to epilepsy. This approach is optimal hen sequenced mouse strains are available. Therefore, we ompared two sequenced strains, DBA/2J (DBA) and A/J. These trains were compared using the chemoconvulsant pilocarpine, ecause pilocarpine induces status epilepticus, a state of evere, prolonged seizures. In addition, pilocarpine-induced tatus is followed by changes in the brain that are associated ith the pathophysiology of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). herefore, pilocarpine can be used to address susceptibility o severe seizures, as well as genes that could be relevant to LE. A/J mice had a higher incidence of status, but a longer atency to status than DBA mice. DBA mice exhibited more ippocampal pyramidal cell damage. DBA mice developed ore ectopic granule cells in the hilus, a result of aberrant igration of granule cells born after status. DBA mice experinced sudden death in the weeks following status, while A/J ice exhibited the most sudden death in the initial hour after ilocarpine administration. The results support previous studies of strain differences ased on responses to convulsants. They suggest caution in tudies of seizure susceptibility that are based only on incience or latency. In addition, the results provide new insight nto the strain-specific characteristics of DBA and A/J mice. A/J ice provide a potential resource to examine the progression to tatus. The DBA mouse may be valuable to clarify genes reguating other seizure-associated phenomena, such as seizurenduced neurogenesis and sudden death. © 2007 Published by lsevier Ltd on behalf of IBRO.