Occurrence of nonconvulsive seizures, periodic epileptiform discharges, and intermittent rhythmic delta activity in rat focal ischemia

A significant proportion of neurologic patients suffer electroencephalographic (EEG) seizures in the acute phase following traumatic or ischemic brain injury, including many without overt behavioral manifestations. Although such nonconvulsive seizures may exacerbate neuropathological processes, they have received limited attention clinically and experimentally. Here we characterize seizure episodes following focal cerebral ischemia in the rat as a model for brain injury-induced seizures. Cortical EEG activity was recorded continuously from both hemispheres up to 72 h following middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAo). Seizure discharges appeared in EEG recordings within 1 h of MCAo in 13/16 (81%) animals and consisted predominantly of generalized 1-3 Hz rhythmic spiking. During seizures animals engaged in quiet awake or normal motor behaviors, but exhibited no motor convulsant activity. Animals had a mean of 10.6 seizure episodes within 2 h, with a mean duration of 60 s per episode. On average, seizures ceased at 1 h 59 min post-MCAo in permanently occluded animals and did not occur following reperfusion at 2 h in transiently occluded animals. In addition to seizures, periodic lateralized epileptiform discharges (PLEDs) appeared over penumbral regions in the injured hemisphere while intermittent rhythmic delta activity (IRDA) recurred in the contralateral hemisphere with frontoparietal dominance. PLEDs and IRDA persisted up to 72 It in permanent MCAo animals, and early onset of the former was predictive of prolonged seizure activity. The presentation of these EEG waveforms, each with characteristic features replicating those in clinical neurologic populations, validates rat MCAo for study of acutely induced brain seizures and other neurophysiological aspects of brain injury. Published by Elsevier Science (USA).