Brains with different degrees of dysplasia show different patterns of neurodegenerative changes following pilocarpine-induced seizures. Histologic evidence of tissue damage correlated with MRI data

Abstract Objective: Brain dysplasias produced by irradiation with gamma rays at various stages of prenatal development cause different post-natal susceptibility to seizures. To detect possible determinants of this difference, patterns of degenerative changes in the dysplastic brains following pilocarpine-induced epilepsy were analysed. Methods: Pregnant Wistar rats were exposed to a 1.0 Gy dose of gamma rays on gestation days 15 (E15) or 17 (E17). On post-natal day 60, their offspring received pilocarpine injections to evoke status epilepticus. Motor manifestations of seizure activity were observed continuously for 6 hours and rated. Six days following the status epilepticus, the rats were anesthetized and T2-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) images were obtained. Frontal sections of the brains were immunostained for immunoglobulins G (IgGs) to detect blood–brain barrier damage and IgG cell uptake and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) or S-100-β protein to visualize astrocytes. Bandeiraea simplicifoli...