Increased spontaneous unit discharge rates following electrical kindling in the rat

Changes in neuronal excitability that persist after seizures may play a key role in epilepsy. In this study, extracellular single unit recording techniques were used to investigate the changes in cell discharge patterns that result from kindling in vivo. The spontaneous activity of piriform and perirhinal cortical units in chronically implanted adult rats was recorded before, during and after kindling the amygdala. We observed that kindling-induced seizures resulted in a prolonged and dramatic increase in the rate of spontaneous background neuronal discharge in both the piriform and perirhinal regions.