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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Non-invasive electroencephalography-based technique for rapid diagnostics of absence epilepsy in rats

Maria Pupikina1 ,  Evgenia Sitnikova1*
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1 Institute of the Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology of Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
Advanced Neurology 2024, 3(4), 4464 https://doi.org/10.36922/an.4464
Submitted: 7 August 2024 | Accepted: 13 November 2024 | Published: 12 December 2024
© 2024 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
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Abstract

Electroencephalography (EEG) is a crucial tool for diagnosing absence epilepsy, a type of generalized epilepsy characterized by brief lapses of consciousness. Here, we used a Wistar Albino Glaxo from Rijswijk (WAG/Rij) rat genetic model of absence epilepsy, in which spike-wave discharges (SWDs) manifested spontaneously and were linked to absence-like behavior. Conventionally, invasive electrocorticography (ECoG) with surgically implanted chronic electrodes has been used to confirm the absence epilepsy by the presence of SWDs in rats. However, this restricts the utilization of the same rat subject in multiple experiments. Therefore, there is a need for non-invasive EEG-based diagnostic tools in rats. This study introduces a novel, non-invasive EEG-based technique designed specifically for the rapid diagnosis of absence epilepsy. This approach is based on the sedative effect of xylazine and its unique capacity to induce SWDs. This approach was evaluated in a well-accepted genetic WAG/Rij rat model of absence epilepsy, including adult subjects of both sexes. Non-invasive EEG recording lasted 6 – 9 min. During the 6-min post-injection period, xylazine-induced SWDs closely resembled spontaneous SWDs in terms of the spike-wave morphology and frequency. The proposed non-invasive EEG-based technique is rapid, safe, inexpensive, and yields consistent results. Importantly, it can be repeated throughout a rat’s lifespan to assess the age-related progression of absence epilepsy.

Graphical abstract
Keywords
Xylazine
WAG/Rij rats
Spike-wave discharges
Phenotypic variability
Physiobelt
Funding
This study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, grant number 23-25-00166.
Conflict of interest
Evgenia Sitnikova is an Editorial Board Member of this journal but was not in any way involved in the editorial and peer-review process conducted for this paper, directly or indirectly. Separately, other authors declared that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have influenced the work reported in this paper.
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Advanced Neurology, Electronic ISSN: 2810-9619 Print ISSN: 3060-8589, Published by AccScience Publishing
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