Behavioral Characterization and Scoring of Seizures in Rodents

Behavioral manifestations of seizures in rodents have many characteristics of clinical seizure expression in humans depending on the type of seizure modeled. Seizures in rodents can be either convulsive or nonconvulsive. Convulsive seizures include clonic seizures, tonic–clonic seizures, and barrel rotations. In developing animals, special types of seizures, that is, spastic seizures, can be observed. Nonconvulsive seizures include behavioral arrest, staring and stereotypies. Distinct seizure phenotypes depend on the neurotransmitter system activated by convulsant agent, on the dose of convulsant drug, route of administration, distinct brain regions involved in individual seizure types and on are age-specific. In conclusion, any seizure behavior must be first confirmed and correlated with electrographic discharges.