Cerebral metabolic and hemodynamic responses to epilepsy: insights from animal models

Abstract

The use of various neuroimaging approaches for the study of neurological diseases in animal models is increasing rapidly. Autoradiographic techniques for the measurement of cerebral glucose metabolism and blood flow have been applied to the study of epileptic seizures and syndromes. The main limitations of these approaches relate to the fact that most animal models of epilepsy have been developed in rodents and therefore require the miniaturization of the techniques. Moreover, while they provide excellent definition, they require the sacrifice of the animal at the end of each experiment. Longitudinal analyses can be performed by means of magnetic resonance techniques but their definition is far less precise and functional magnetic resonance imaging is not yet widely available for animal studies. This review describes the extent to which autoradiographic studies can contribute to a improved understanding of the human epilepsy-related pathophysiology.