The role of perioral afferentation in the occurrenceof spike-wave discharges in the WAG/Rij modelof absence epilepsy

►Spontaneous occurring spike-wave discharges are abolished by deafferantiation of the nervus trigeminus. ►The focal epileptic zone in the supragranular layers of the somatosensory cortex needs peripheral input for triggering spike-wave discharges. The present results fit into the cortical focus theory of absence epilepsy.