Kindling model of epilepsy
{{short description|Model for the development of seizures}}
Kindling is a commonly used model for the development of seizures and epilepsy in which the duration and behavioral involvement of induced seizures increases after seizures are induced repeatedly.
{{
cite journal |author=Bertram E |title=The relevance of kindling for human epilepsy |journal=Epilepsia |volume=48 |issue=Supplement 2 |pages=65–74 |year=2007 |pmid=17571354 |doi=10.1111/j.1528-1167.2007.01068.x
|doi-access=free }} Kindling is also referred as an animal visual model of epilepsy that can be produced by focal electrical stimulation in the brain. This is mainly used in visualising epilepsy in humans.
The kindling model was first proposed in the late 1960s by Graham V. Goddard and colleagues.{{cite journal |author=Sato M |title=Kindling: An experimental model of epilepsy |journal=Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences |volume=36 |issue=4 |pages=440–441 |year=2008 |doi=10.1111/j.1440-1819.1982.tb03123.x |s2cid=146513524 |url=http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/120156204/PDFSTART |format=PDF }}{{Dead link|date=February 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Although kindling is a widely used model, its applicability to human epilepsy is controversial.
Method
The word kindling is a metaphor: the increase in response to small stimuli is similar to the way small burning twigs can produce a large fire.{{cite book |chapter=The kindling model of epilepsy |vauthors=Abel MS, McCandless DW |veditors=Adams RN, Baker GB, Baker JM, Bateson AN, Boisvert DP, Boulton AA |title=Neuromethods: Animal Models of Neurological Disease |publisher=Humana Press |location=Totowa, NJ |year=1992 |pages=153–155 |isbn=0-89603-211-6 |display-editors=etal}}
It is used by scientists to study the effects of repeated seizures on the brain. A seizure may increase the likelihood that more seizures will occur; an old saying in epilepsy research is "seizures beget seizures". Repeated stimulation "lowers the threshold" for more seizures to occur.{{cite journal|title=The pathophysiology of post traumatic epilepsy |author1=PK Sahoo |author2=KI Mathai |author3=GV Ramdas |author4=MN Swamy |journal=Indian Journal of Neurotrauma |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=11–14 |year=2007 |url=http://www.ijntonline.com/June07/abstracts/03.PDF |doi=10.1016/s0973-0508(07)80004-9 |s2cid=144797725 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101202010046/http://ijntonline.com/June07/abstracts/03.PDF |archive-date=2010-12-02 }}
{{
cite journal |vauthors=Temkin NR, Jarell AD, Anderson GD |title=Antiepileptogenic agents: how close are we? |journal=Drugs |volume=61 |issue=8 |pages=1045–55 |year=2001 |pmid=11465868 |doi=10.2165/00003495-200161080-00002
|s2cid=46964062 }}
The brains of experimental animals are repeatedly stimulated, usually with electricity, to induce the seizures. Chemicals may also be used to induce seizures. The seizure that occurs after the first such electrical stimulation lasts a short time and is accompanied by a small amount of behavioral effects compared with seizures that result from repeated stimulations. With further seizures, the accompanying behavior intensifies, for example progressing from freezing in early stimulations to convulsions in later ones.
{{
cite journal |vauthors=Morimoto K, Fahnestock M, Racine RJ |title=Kindling and status epilepticus models of epilepsy: Rewiring the brain |journal=Prog. Neurobiol. |volume=73 |issue=1 |pages=1–60 |date=May 2004 |pmid=15193778 |doi=10.1016/j.pneurobio.2004.03.009
|s2cid=36849482 }}
The lengthening of duration and intensification of behavioral accompaniment eventually reaches a plateau after repeated stimulation. Even if animals are left unstimulated for as long as 12 weeks, the effect remains; the response to stimulation remains higher than it had been before.
It has been reported that repeated seizure stimulation can result in spontaneous seizures, but studies have had conflicting findings on this question. In humans, some seizure disorders come to an end by themselves even after large numbers of seizures. However, in both human epilepsy and in some animal models, evidence suggests that a process like that found in kindling does occur.
Historical perspective
Already in the 1950s and 1960s, numerous authors recognized the seizure-inducing potential of focal stimulation.
{{
cite journal |author1=McNamara JO |author2=Byrne MC |author3=Dasheiff RM |author4=JG Fitz |title=The Kindling Model of Epilepsy; a Review|journal=Progress in Neurobiology|volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=139–59 |year=1980 |pmid=6109361 |doi=10.1016/0301-0082(80)90006-4|s2cid=2843956 }} Here, Delgado and Sevillano demonstrated that repeated low-intensity stimuli to the hippocampus could lead to progressive increase of electrically evoked seizure activity.
{{
cite journal |vauthors=Delgado JM, Sevillano M|title=Evolution of repeated hippocampal seizures in the cat|journal=Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophys|volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=722–733|year=1961 |doi=10.1016/0013-4694(61)90104-3}} Yet, it was not until the late 1960s that Graham Goddard recognized the potential importance of this phenomenon and coined the term 'kindling'.
{{
cite journal |author=Goddard GV |title=Development of epileptic seizures through brain stimulation at low intensity|journal=Nature|volume=214 |issue=5092|pages=1020–1 |year=1967 |pmid=6055396|doi=10.1038/2141020a0 |bibcode=1967Natur.214.1020G|s2cid=2203065 }} Further research by Goddard on the characteristics of the kindling phenomenon led to his conclusion that kindling can be used to model human epileptogenesis, learning and memory.
{{
cite journal |vauthors=Goddard GV, McIntyre DC, Leech CK |title=A permanent change in brain function resulting from daily electrical stimulation|journal=Exp Neurol|volume=25 |issue=3 |pages=295–330 |year=1969 |pmid= 4981856 |doi=10.1016/0014-4886(69)90128-9}} The publication of these results opened a completely new niche for epilepsy research and has stimulated a significant number of studies on the subject of kindling and its relevance to human epilepsy.
New approaches
In 2019, a new model to develop kindling in the neocortex was developed using optogenetics (light) instead of passing electrical current.{{Cite journal|last1=Cela|first1=Elvis|last2=McFarlan|first2=Amanda R.|last3=Chung|first3=Andrew J.|last4=Wang|first4=Taiji|last5=Chierzi|first5=Sabrina|last6=Murai|first6=Keith K.|last7=Sjöström|first7=P. Jesper|date=December 2019|title=An Optogenetic Kindling Model of Neocortical Epilepsy|journal=Scientific Reports|volume=9|issue=1|page=5236|doi=10.1038/s41598-019-41533-2|pmid=30918286|issn=2045-2322|pmc=6437216|bibcode=2019NatSR...9.5236C}} In 2021, "optokindling" by activating pyramidal cells in the piriform cortex has shown to disrupt the GABA production of feedback inhibitory cells, which led to the progression of seizure severity in mice.{{Cite journal|last1=Ryu|first1=Brendan|last2=Nagappan|first2=Shivathmihai|last3=Santos-Valencia|first3=Fernando|last4=Lee|first4=Psyche|last5=Rodriguez|first5=Erica|last6=Lackie|first6=Meredith|last7=Takatoh|first7=Jun|last8=Franks|first8=Kevin M.|date=April 2021|title=Chronic loss of inhibition in piriform cortex following brief, daily optogenetic stimulation|journal=Cell Reports|volume=35|issue=3|page=109001|doi=10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109001 |pmid=33882304 |pmc=8102022 |issn=2211-1247|doi-access=free}}
See also
- Kindling (sedative–hypnotic withdrawal)
- Epileptogenesis
- Racine stages (a method by which seizure severity is quantified in animal models of epilepsy)