Kindling model
Encyclopedia
Kindling is a commonly used model
for the development of seizure
s and epilepsy
in which the duration and behavioral involvement of induced seizures increases after seizures are induced repeatedly. The kindling model was first proposed in the late 1960s by Goddard and colleagues. Although kindling is a widely used model, its applicability to human epilepsy is controversial.
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. 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.
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. 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.
Scientific modelling
Scientific modelling is the process of generating abstract, conceptual, graphical and/or mathematical models. Science offers a growing collection of methods, techniques and theory about all kinds of specialized scientific modelling...
for the development of seizure
Seizure
An epileptic seizure, occasionally referred to as a fit, is defined as a transient symptom of "abnormal excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain". The outward effect can be as dramatic as a wild thrashing movement or as mild as a brief loss of awareness...
s and epilepsy
Epilepsy
Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by seizures. These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or hypersynchronous neuronal activity in the brain.About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, and nearly two out of every three new cases...
in which the duration and behavioral involvement of induced seizures increases after seizures are induced repeatedly. The kindling model was first proposed in the late 1960s by Goddard and colleagues. Although kindling is a widely used model, its applicability to human epilepsy is controversial.
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. 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.
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. 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.
See also
- Kindling (substance withdrawal)Kindling (substance withdrawal)Kindling due to substance withdrawal, refers to the neurological condition which results from repeated withdrawal episodes from sedative-hypnotic drugs such as alcohol or benzodiazepines. Each withdrawal leads to more severe withdrawal symptoms than the first withdrawal syndrome...
- EpileptogenesisEpileptogenesisEpileptogenesis is a process by which a normal brain develops epilepsy, a chronic condition in which seizures occur. The process, which is gradual, occurs in symptomatic epilepsy, in which seizures are caused by an identifiable lesion in the brain. It results from acute brain insults such as...
- Racine StagesRacine stagesRacine stages are a categorization of epileptic seizures proposed by Ronald J. Racine.In the kindling model of epilepsy, the brain receives electrical shocks or chemical injections to induce acute seizures. With repetition, these seizures become chronic and generally do not occur spontaneously ,...
(a method by which seizure severity is quantified in animal models of epilepsy)