Positive Transfer Effect of Amygdaloid Kindling in Developing Rats

To study the hypothesis that seizure susceptibility in the young rat brain is higher than that in the adult brain, positive transfer effect (PTE) in amygdaloid kindling in rats was investigated at varing ages: 15 days, 18 days, 28 days, 40 days and 70 days. Although PTE was observed regardless of age, it was more pronounced in weaning rats than in adult rats

Persistence of Acquired Epileptogenesis in Amygdaloid-Kindled Rats: Relationship between the Initial Kindling Stages and Seizure Development in Rekindling

In order to gain insight into mechanisms underlying the persistence of the partial kindling effect, we suspended amygdaloid kindling at different seizure stages in rats, and investigated the effects on subsequent rekindling after a rest period of 2 months. Ten-week-old rats, implanted with bipolar electrodes, were separated by various initial kindling stages into 5 groups of rats, partially kindled to stages 1 (n = 7) and 2 (n = 10), fully kindled to stages 4 (n = 11) and 5 (n = 11), and control rats (n = 12) which were implanted but not stimulated initially. The number of stimulations required to elicit the first stage 5 seizure during rekindling was significantly lower in the fully kindled groups (P < 0.01 in the stage 4 group and P < 0.001 in the stage 5 group) than the control group. The cumulative afterdischarge duration during rekindling was significantly shorter in the fully kindled groups (P < 0.01 in both groups) than the control group. The latency of the first stage 5 seizure during rekindling was significantly shorter in the partially and fully kindled groups than the control group. These results suggest that epileptogenesis acquired at the partially kindled stage is different than that acquired at the fully kindled stage. However, the effects of the initial kindling on the latency to produce the stage 5 seizure during rekindling persisted both in the partially and fully kindled rats

The impact of triple drug immunosuppression on clinical results of cadaveric kidney transplantation: a comparison of conventional immunosuppression.

A retrospective study was carried out in 110 cadaveric kidney transplant recipients to compare the effects of low doses of cyclosporine (CsA), azathioprine (AZP) and steroids (triple-drug therapy) with those of higher doses of steroids plus AZP (conventional immunosuppression). Graft survival rate in the triple-drug therapy was 77%, 69%, and 69% at 1, 3, and 5 years, respectively. This was significantly better than 48%, 34%, and 29% in conventional immunosuppression. The incidence of acute rejection episodes was significantly lower in the triple-drug therapy than in conventional immunosuppression (25% vs 58%). In conclusion, our study shows that triple-drug therapy using low-dose cyclosporine is the safest of the immunosuppressive regimens and provides a beneficial effect on the long-term survival of cadaveric kidney transplants.</p

Renal transplantation from HLA-haploidentical living-related donors: the effects of donor-specific blood transfusions and different immunosuppressive regimens.

One-hundred-nine HLA-haploidentical living related renal transplants have been retrospectively analysed to compare the effect of donor-specific blood transfusion (DST) and different immunosuppressive regimens on graft survival and acute rejection. The recipients were divided into four groups according to the immunosuppressive therapy. Group 1 (n = 44): conventional therapy with posttransplant azathioprine (AZP) + methylprednisolone (MP). Group 2 (n = 25): pretransplant DST + posttransplant AZP + MP. Group 3 (n = 12): triple-drug therapy with posttransplant AZP + MP + cyclosporine (CS). Group 4 (n = 25): pretransplant DST + posttransplant AZP + MP + CS. The five-year actuarial survival rates for groups 1, 2, 3 and 4 were 48%, 73%, 79%, and 89%, respectively. The graft survival rate in group 3 was significantly (p less than 0.01) better than that in group 1. The transfusion effect was reduced, and appears as a 10% improvement in the graft survival in the cyclosporin era compared with a 25% improvement at pre-cyclosporin era. Furthermore, the incidence of the first rejection episode was decreased in recipients that received DST. The present study revealed that DST, as pretransplant conditioning has a definite impact on rejection-free long-term graft survival in HLA-haploidentical living-related kidney recipients and the most favorable outcome in such patients could be achieved by DST pretreatment in conjunction with posttransplant triple-drug therapy including cyclosporine.</p