Abstracts

Rationale: The EL mouse, an animal model of human temporal lobe epilepsy or complex partial seizures, has been studied for understanding the mechanisms of epilepsy and epileptogenesis. Aging and repetitive stimulation by rotary acceleration induce the developing of convulsive seizures. EL mouse usually start epileptic seizures approximately 10 weeks after birth. Methods: To verify the structural or functional difference between EL and mother strain DDY mouse, we examined expression of neurofilment and MAP2 in the brain of EL mouse by immunostaining in two different ages of mouse, 3 and 10 weeks of birth, those are representative ages for before and after initiation of epilepsy, respectively. Results: The neurofilament in EL mouse was clearly less expressed especially in hippocampal CA3 area and cerebral cortex compared with the same age of DDY mouse in each age. However the expression of MAP2 was equal between those strains. We also show the Zinc imaging which was performed on the basis of the results that Timm’s staining exhibited more dense staining in CA3 and DG, absolutely the same distribution of mossy fiber, in epileptic EL mouse. Conclusions: Those results suggest that structural and functional difference of mossy fiber in hippocampus may have a role of epileptogenesis.