Sexual differentiation of cortical spreading depression propagation after acute and kindled audiogenic seizures in the Wistar audiogenic rat (WAR)

SummaryBrain excitability diseases like epilepsy constitute one factor that influences brain electrophysiological features. Cortical spreading depression (CSD) is a phenomenon that can be altered by changes in brain excitability. CSD propagation was presently characterized in adult male and female rats from a normal Wistar strain and from a genetically audiogenic seizure-prone strain, the Wistar audiogenic rat (WAR), both previously submitted (RAS+), or not (RAS−), to repetitive acoustic stimulation, to provoke audiogenic kindling in the WAR-strain. A gender-specific change in CSD-propagation was found. Compared to seizure-resistant animals, in the RAS− condition, male and female WARs, respectively, presented CSD-propagation impairment and facilitation, characterized, respectively, by lower and higher propagation velocities (P < 0.05). In contraposition, in the RAS+ condition, male and female WARs displayed, respectively, higher and lower CSD-propagation rates, as compared to the corresponding controls. In some Wistar and WAR females, we determined estrous cycle status on the day of the CSD-recording as being either estrous or diestrous; no cycle-phase-related differences in CSD-propagation velocities were detected. In contrast to other epilepsy models, such as Status Epilepticus induced by pilocarpine, despite the CSD-velocity reduction, in no case was CSD propagation blocked in WARs. The results suggest a gender-related, estrous cycle-phase-independent modification in the CSD-susceptibility of WAR rats, both in the RAS+ and RAS− situation.