Effect of epileptogenesis on hypercapnic cardioventilatory response in kainic acid rats

OBJECTIVE: Cardioventilatory failure is the leading mechanism proposed to underlie sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP), which occurs predominantly at night in patients with generalized tonic-clonic seizures. Interictal hypercapnic cardioventilatory responses are suggested to be involved, as they are ablated in chronically epileptic kainic acid (KA) rats, a temporal lobe epilepsy model with focal to bilateral tonic-clonic seizures. However, how this impairment emerges during epileptogenesis and whether it is influenced by day/night period remain unclear. Here, we aimed to investigate the progress of hypercapnic cardioventilatory responses through the epileptogenesis of KA rats and whether it is affected by day or night. METHODS: exposure, an independent cohort of age-matched KA and healthy rats underwent a single hypercapnia exposure at month 6. RESULTS: exposure frequency, and no day-night differences were detected in either group. SIGNIFICANCE: These findings indicate that cardioventilatory responses are decreased during epileptogenesis in the KA model, suggesting their potential utility for evaluating SUDEP risk.