Carbamazepine (CBZ) aggravates many generalized seizures types, particularly absence seizures, but the mechanisms underlying this are poorly understood. GABA signaling within the reticular nucleus (Rt) and the ventrobasal complex (VB) of the thalamus is critical to the neurophysiology of absence seizures. The hypothesis that CBZ aggravates absence seizures by acting at the VB thalamus via a GABA A receptor-mediated mechanism was investigated in a genetic rat model, generalized absence epilepsy rats from Strasbourg (GAERS). Seizure activity was quantified by a 90-min electroencephalogram recording postdrug injection. Intracerebroventricular injections of CBZ (15 g in 4 l) resulted in seizure aggravation versus vehicle treatment, with a mean increase in seizure time of 40%. This indicates that CBZ acts directly, rather than via a metabolite, on the brain to aggravate seizures. Seizure aggravation also occurred following bilateral microinjection of CBZ (0.75 g in 0.2 l) into the VB (53%) but not following injection into the Rt (Ϫ9%). However, seizure aggravation was blocked when the GABA A receptor antagonist, bicuculline (BIC, 0.04 g in 0.2 l), was coinjected with CBZ into the VB. Injection of BIC alone (versus vehicle) into the VB also blocked seizure aggravation following systemic administration of CBZ (15 mg/kg i.p.). In vitro studies in Xenopus oocytes expressing recombinant GABA A receptors demonstrated that CBZ produced a dose-dependent potentiation of the GABA current at a physiological relevant concentration range (1-100 M). These data demonstrate that CBZ acts at the VB thalamus to aggravate absence seizures in GAERS and that activation of GABA A receptors is critical to this effect.Aggravation of seizures by antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) is an important clinical problem that is often overlooked in practice (Lerman, 1986;Perucca et al., 1998). The neurobiological mechanisms underlying seizure aggravation are poorly understood. One of the drugs most implicated is carbamazepine (CBZ), a major first line AED for the treatment of focal seizures. In patients with generalized epilepsy syndromes, CBZ commonly causes an increase in a variety of seizure types, including typical and atypical absence seizures, myoclonic, atonic, and tonic seizures, and also on occasions generalized tonic-clonic seizures (Perucca et al., 1998). Of these, the aggravation of absence seizures is the most predictable and, with the availability of good animal models (Snead et al., 1999), the most amenable for mechanistic studies. In agreement with human studies, CBZ has also been demonstrated by our group and others to exacerbate spontaneous absence seizures in well validated rat models, i.e., low-dose pentylenetetrazole (McLean et al., 2004) and the generalized absence epilepsy rats from Strasbourg (GAERS) (Marescaux et al., 1984;Micheletti et al., 1985;Wallengren et al., 2005).The primary neuropathological correlate of absence seizures is bursts of highly synchronized rhythmic oscillatory glutamatergic firing between neurons in the...

Opposite effects of ketamine and deep brain stimulation on rat thalamocortical information processing Sofya P Kulikova (1,2)*, Elena A Tolmacheva (1,2)**, Paul Anderson (1,2,3), Julien Gaudias (1,2)***, Brendan E Adams (1,2)****, Thomas Zheng (1,2,3), and Didier Pinault (1,2)(1) INSERM U666, physiopathologie et psychopathologie cognitive de la schizophrénie, Strasbourg, France. Abstract:Sensory and cognitive deficits are common in schizophrenia. They are associated with abnormal brain rhythms, including disturbances in γ frequency (30-80 Hz) oscillations (GFO) in cortex-related networks. However, the underlying anatomo-functional mechanisms remain elusive. Clinical and experimental evidence suggest that these deficits result from a hyporegulation of glutamate N-Methyl d-Aspartate receptors (NMDAr). Here we modeled these deficits in rats with ketamine, a non-competitive NMDAr antagonist and a translational psychotomimetic substance at subanesthetic doses. We tested the hypothesis that ketamine-induced sensory deficits involve an impairment of the ability of the thalamocortical (TC) system to discriminate the relevant information from the baseline activity. Furthermore we wanted to assess whether ketamine disrupts synaptic plasticity in TC systems. We conducted multisite network recordings in the rat somatosensory TC system, natural stimulation of the vibrissae and high-frequency electrical stimulation (HFS) of the thalamus.A single systemic injection of ketamine increased the amount of baseline GFO, reduced the amplitude of the sensory-evoked TC response and decreased the power of the sensoryevoked GFO. Furthermore, cortical application of ketamine elicited local and distant increases in baseline GFO. The ketamine effects were transient. Unexpectedly, HFS of the TC pathway had opposite actions. In conclusion, ketamine and thalamic HFS have opposite effects on the ability of the somatosensory TC system to discriminate the sensory-evoked response from the baseline GFO during information processing. Investigating the link between the state and function of the TC system may conceptually be a key strategy to design innovative therapies against neuropsychiatric disorders. 3The anatomofunctional mechanisms of sensory and cognitive deficits in schizophrenia are unknown. These deficits are commonly associated with abnormal brain rhythms, including disturbances in γ frequency (30-80 Hz) oscillations (GFO) in corticocortical and thalamocortical (TC) circuits (Bokde et al., 2009;Clinton and Meador-Woodruff, 2004;de Haan W. et al., 2009;Friston, 2002;Herrmann and Demiralp, 2005;Light et al., 2006;Lisman, 2011;Meyer-Lindenberg, 2010;Pinault, 2011;Spencer et al., 2003;Uhlhaas and Singer, 2006). At least four types of GFO should be considered: 1) Spontaneously-occurring (baseline) GFO, which are dominant during desynchronized state of the electroencephalogram (Jasper, 1936;Sheer, 1975); 2) Sensory-evoked GFO, which are phase-locked to the stimulus onset (Pantev et al., 1991;Spencer et al., 2008b); 3) Steadystate GFO during r...