POST-TRIAL BARBITURATES DO NOT AFFECT AMYGDALOID KINDLING

The effect of post-trial barbiturate injection on amygdaloid kindling was assessed using two different barbiturates. Hooded rats were stimulated electrically in a standard kindling paradigm, and received one of the barbiturates either immediately following the cessation of afterdischarge (AD) or 2 hr following each stimulation. Appropriate nondrugged controls were also stimulated. Treated animals kindled as rapidly as controls, indicating that undisturbed post-AD neural activity is not crucial for amygdaloid kindling. However, it appears that animals stimulated at long intervals develop seizures significantly faster than those stimulated at shorter intervals, which may indicate that a nonessential but facilitatory process occurs following each evoked afterdischarge. © 1979 Academic Press, Inc.