Decreased Incidence of Limbic Motor Seizures Following Twenty Pairings of Subclinical Lithium-Pilocarpine Injections and a Complex “Burst-Firing” Magnetic Field

Abstract

An experiment was designed to determine whether temporal contiguity between subclinical dosages of (sub. cu.) lithium/pilocarpine and exogenous magnetic fields would alter the probability for overt limbic motor seizures. Magnetic fields that simulated (computer generated) the temporal structure of burst-firing amygdaloid neurons were presented for 1 s every 4 s for 4 min per session. After 20 pairings (40 days), injection of 3 mEq/kg of lithium and 30 mg/kg of pilocarpine evoked the normal limbic seizures (rearing and forelimb clonus) in 100% of the controls but in only 68% of the rats that had received the magnetic fields.