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. 2014 Nov 13;30(6):913–922. doi: 10.1007/s12264-014-1482-8

Gender difference in acquired seizure susceptibility in adult rats after early complex febrile seizures

Yun-Jian Dai 1, Zheng-Hao Xu 1, Bo Feng 1, Ceng-Lin Xu 1, Hua-Wei Zhao 1, Deng-Chang Wu 1,2, Wei-Wei Hu 1,✉, Zhong Chen 1,✉
PMCID: PMC5562567  PMID: 25394585

Abstract

Gender differences are involved in many neurological disorders including epilepsy. However, little is known about the effect of gender difference on the risk of epilepsy in adults with a specific early pathological state such as complex febrile seizures (FSs) in infancy. Here we used a well-established complex FS model in rats and showed that: (1) the susceptibility to seizures induced by hyperthermia, pentylenetetrazol (PTZ), and maximal electroshock (MES) was similar in male and female rat pups, while males were more susceptible to PTZ- and MES-induced seizures than age-matched females in normal adult rats; (2) adult rats with complex FSs in infancy acquired higher seizure susceptibility than normal rats; importantly, female FS rats were more susceptible to PTZ and MES than male FS rats; and (3) the protein expression of interleukin-1β, an inflammatory factor associated with seizure susceptibility, was higher in adult FS females than in males, which may reflect a gender-difference phenomenon of seizure susceptibility. Our results provide direct evidence that the acquired seizure susceptibility after complex FSs is gender-dependent.

Keywords: gender difference, complex febrile seizures, seizure susceptibility, epilepsy, IL-1β

Footnotes

A correction to this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s12264-017-0197-z.

Contributor Information

Wei-Wei Hu, Email: huww@zju.edu.cn.

Zhong Chen, Email: chenzhong@zju.edu.cn.

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