CA3 synaptic silencing attenuates kainic acid-induced seizures and hippocampal network oscillations

Abstract

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder defined by the presence of seizure activity, manifest both behaviorally and as abnormal activity in neuronal networks. An established model to study the disorder in rodents is the systemic injection of kainic acid, an excitatory neurotoxin that at low doses quickly induces behavioral and electrophysiological seizures. Although the CA3 region of the hippocampus has been suggested to be crucial for kainic acid-induced seizure, because of its strong expression of kainate glutamate receptors and its high degree of recurrent connectivity, the precise role of excitatory transmission in CA3 in the generation of seizure and the accompanying increase in neuronal oscillations remains largely untested. Here we use transgenic mice in which CA3 pyramidal cell synaptic transmission can be inducibly silenced in the adult to demonstrate CA3 excitatory output is required for both the generation of epileptiform oscillatory activity and the progression of behavioral seizures.