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Biomedical subjects

S Romettino

Publications and source records attributed to S Romettino.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Anticonvulsant and sleep-waking influences of riluzole in a rat model of absence epilepsy.

Six WAG/Rij rats, an animal model of human absence epilepsy, were injected intraperitoneally with riluzole. At 4 mg/kg, riluzole decreased the number, mean duration and spike-frequency of the spontaneously occurring discharges for 3 h. Riluzole also increased slow wave sleep at the expense of waking. As riluzole at 3 mg/kg decreased the number and spike-frequency of the discharges without inducing a sedative effect, this compound could be of therapeutic interest in human absence epilepsy.

Animals

Genetically epileptic rats show a pronounced intermediate stage of sleep.

Rats of the genetically epileptic WAG/Rij strain show a more long-lasting intermediate stage of sleep compared to rats of the Wistar strain. Therefore the WAG/Rij strain provides a privileged model for studying this stage of sleep. On the other hand, the percentage of paradoxical sleep in WAG/Rij rats is lower than in Wistar rats, for the reason that the intermediate stage in WAG/Rij rats is less frequently followed by paradoxical sleep and more frequently by slow wave sleep and especially by arousals. It is speculated that the epileptic rats encounter a greater difficulty in entering into paradoxical sleep.

Animals