Prolonged Epileptic Seizures in Primates

Neuronal alterations typical of ischemic cell change were seen in the brains of ten adolescent baboons after generalized seizures, lasting 82 to 299 minutes, induced by bicuculline. These changes involved the neocortex (diffusely, in all ten cases, with some accentuation occipitally), the cerebellum (Purkinje and basket cells, predominantly in the arterial boundary zone) and the hippocampus (hi and h3-5sometimes asymmetrically). The brain damage apparently originated during the second phase of the seizure when hyperpyrexia, mild arterial hypotension, mild systemic hypoxia, and acidosis were characteristically, and severe hypoglycemia occasionally, seen. Cerebellar damage was related to hyperpyrexia and arterial hypotension. Numerous factors (including the cerebral epileptic activity) interacted to produce the cortical damage.