In this thesis, we investigated the progression of cellular injury using two markers of neuronal degeneration, in a model of hippocampal epileptogenesis. Pilocarpine was used to induce a controlled period of status epilepticus (SE) in six groups of rats. Following a 1--2 week period of apparent recovery, the animals developed spontaneous recurrent seizures. A silver impregnation technique for neurons subjected to cytoskeletal stress, the Dark Neuron stain, was used to label hippocampal neurons at each of six selected time points (from 3h--3weeks) following SE. The proportion of labelled cells was then compared to that obtained with the anionic fluorochrome Fluoro-Jade, reported to be specific for degenerating neurons. / Results revealed a differential temporal pattern of labelling. The Dark Neuron stain preferentially revealed cells at earlier time points, while with Fluoro-Jade staining was found at a later time point during epileptogenesis. Interestingly, maximal Fluoro-Jade labelling at 1 week post-pilocarpine injection coincided with significant cell loss and gliosis in the CA3 principal cell layer. / The two stains, therefore, appear to detect separate processes of neuronal damage during epileptogenesis. This finding highlights the fact that distinct cellular events take place at different stages of epileptogenesis, which may differ significantly from the permanent changes observed in chronically epileptic tissue. Understanding the progression of cellular injury may be important for the development of antiepileptogenic therapy, a potentially valuable complementary approach to anticonvulsant therapy for the treatment of chronic epilepsy.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.29920 |
| Date | January 1999 |
| Creators | Poirier, Julie. |
| Contributors | De Koninck, Yves (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001681963, proquestno: MQ55087, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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