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Epilepsy pp 43–55Cite as

Animal Models of Absence Seizures

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Abstract

Absence seizures are characterized by many brief (up to 30 s) interruptions in ­consciousness, with characteristic bilaterally synchronous spike wave discharges of about 3 Hz. The phenotype consists of staring spells, and may be accompanied by atonia and automatisms such as lip or mouth movements. The incidence is somewhere between two and eight cases per 100,000, with girls affected more than boys (Panayiotopoulos 1997). Early studies in animals demonstrated that electrical stimulation to the external midline of the brain at a frequency of 3 Hz yielded spike wave discharges (Jasper and Droogleever-Fortuyn 1947). A bit later, it was shown that identical 3-Hz spike wave discharges could be recorded in children with deep recording electrodes in the thalamus (Williams 1953).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Chicago Medical School Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Rosalind Franklin University, Chicago, IL, USA

    David W. McCandless

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  1. David W. McCandless
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McCandless, D.W. (2012). Animal Models of Absence Seizures. In: Epilepsy. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0361-6_4

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