ReviewThe Krushinsky-Molodkina rat strain: The study of audiogenic epilepsy for 65Â years

- The KМ rat strain shares all the main features of audiogenic seizure-prone animals.
- KM rats display classic audiogenic kindling phenomena.
- KM rats exposed to special sound protocol display blood flow disturbances in the brain.
- KM rats develop a postictal cataleptic state and are prone to nape skin-pinch-induced catalepsy.

The more recent history and main experimental data for the Krushinsky-Molodkina (KM) audiogenic rat strain are presented. The strain selection started in late 1940. Now this strain is inbred, and two new strains are maintained in a laboratory in parallel. These strains originated from KM × Wistar hybrids and were bred (starting from 2000) for no-seizure and intense audiogenic seizure phenotypes, respectively. The experimental evidences of audiogenic seizure physiology were accumulated in parallel with (and usually ahead of) data on other audiogenic-prone strains. The peculiar feature of the KM strain is its vulnerability to brain hemorrhages. Thus, the KM strain is used not only as a genetic model of seizure states, but also as a model of blood flow disturbances in the brain.This article is part of a Special Issue entitled “Genetic and Reflex Epilepsies, Audiogenic Seizures and Strains: From Experimental Models to the Clinic”.