Whereas febrile seizures are the most common seizure type in children and are reported in the history of mesial temporal lobe epilepsy, their role in its etiology remains controversial. They have been suggested to modify the functional organization of the hippocampus but to require another insult to induce epilepsy. To test this hypothesis, we developed a model of hyperthermic seizures in mice and examined their long-term consequences on a second insult induced either by (i) intra-hippocampal kaïnic acid injection in adult animals or by (ii) hippocampal dysplasia developed by double-cortin knock-out mice. (i) While adults, mice that were subjected to hyperthermic seizures developed epileptogenesis more rapidly than sham mice. The occurrence and duration of hippocampal paroxysmal discharges were not modified by hyperthermic seizures, as was their mean time-frequency. In this model, hyperthermic seizures increased the granular cells dispersion, but have no influence on the massif pyramidal cell loss. (ii) In preexisting hippocampal dysplasia, the occurrence of hyperthermic seizures did not increase the proportion of seizures in double-cortin knock-out mice after hyperthermic seizures, and suggest that hyperthermic seizures rather might decrease recurrent seizures via the neo-expression of NPY. In conclusion, hyperthermic seizures in immature mice might facilitate the route to epilepsy, but did not exacerbate the route to seizures.
Febrile seizures and Mesial-Temporal Lobe Epilepsy syndrome : A modelisation of the "two-hits theory" in mice