Abstract
Enhanced excitability manifested by seizures and epilepsy is one of the characteristic features of the fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). Here, we examined network excitability using a high-potassium model in the hippocampal slices prepared from the postnatal days of P7–9 rats treated with ethanol. Ethanol was administered at 6 g/kg intraperitoneally 12 h before the slice preparation. The extracellular field potential recordings from the hippocampal slices using multishank silicon probes placed along CA3-CA1 axis were performed in the interface chamber. We found that elevation of the extracellular potassium from 3.5 to 6 mM evoked seizure-like clonic or tonic-clonic discharges in 77 % of the slices from the ethanol-treated animals and only in 15 % of the slices from the control animals. Further elevation of the extracellular potassium to 8.5 mM evoked epileptiform activity in 92 and 69 % of the slices from the ethanol-treated and the control animals, respectively. The current source density profile and the multiple unit activity analysis pointed on the CA3 hippocampal region as a generator of the epileptiform activity. Thus, the hippocampal slices from the ethanol-treated neonatal rats display enhanced excitability and could serve as a FASD model to study the early epileptiform transformations following exposure to ethanol.
Highlights
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) is a common term used to describe a range of adverse developmental outcomes that may occur in a person whose mother was consuming alcohol during pregnancy
This report is based on the recordings from the 26 hippocampal slices prepared from the P7–9 rat pups including 13 slices from the ethanol-treated and 13 slices from the control animals
All the slices prepared from both the control and the ethanol-treated rat pups displayed spontaneous giant depolarizing potentials (GDPs), alterations to which are described in the companion paper
Summary
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) is a common term used to describe a range of adverse developmental outcomes that may occur in a person whose mother was consuming alcohol during pregnancy. We addressed this question through the exploration of the excitability using an elevated potassium model in the hippocampal slices prepared from the rat pups shortly after the exposure to ethanol.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have