Experimental "Petit Mal" in Kittens

Abstract

The experimental production of epileptogenic cortical foci in monkeys by means of local application of alumina cream to the cortex was initially described by Kopeloff, Barrera, and Kopeloff¹ in 1942. The technique does not readily lend itself, however, to the creation of focal deep lesions, since the fluid irritative agent backs up through the needle tract and often spreads through the ventricles or subarachnoid spaces. In our laboratories a method was introduced to produce epileptogenic foci in deep structures of the brain.² Crystalline aluminum oxide was stereotaxically introduced into specific subcortical structures of the brain. A primary epileptogenic focus developed at the site of the alumina, and, subsequently, secondary discharge developed in the homotopic structure of the contralateral hemisphere. This report is concerned with the induction of petit mal-like patterns after the introduction of crystalline aluminum oxide into deep structures of the brains of kittens. Reports in the