Experimentally Induced Epilepsy in the Cat with Injury of Cornu Ammonis

Abstract

Seizures originating in the temporal lobe have been associated with the pathological findings of scars in the cornu ammonis (hippocampus) since 1825, when, according to Gastaut,¹Bouchet and Cazauvielh²first noticed macroscopically detectable lesions in this area. It has been argued in the past (a) that such lesions may be secondary to the epileptiform attacks, (b) that the hippocampus is not concerned with motor activities and, consequently, is not likely to be concerned in motor fits, and (c) that similar lesions may be found in nonepileptic subjects. Nevertheless, seizure discharges were evoked upon stimulation of the hippocampus by Kaada,³Green and Morin,⁴and Morin and Green⁵; and motor fits have been seen by Kaada, Jansen, and Andersen,⁶Green and Shimamoto,⁷and others. Such discharges, spreading to the rest of the brain apparently via the temporal lobe more readily than via the fornix,^7,8