Algesthesia after epileptic seizure

The consequences of epileptic seizures related to postictalinhibition in early postictal period include postictal analgesia. Westudied this phenomenon over 96 h following flurothyl-inducedseizures in adult male Wistar rats. Nociception of control (noseizure) and seizured groups were tested using the plantar andvon Frey hair tests. We determined latency of forepaw and hindpaw reactions using plantar tests and the number of von Freyhairs reactions. Shortly after seizures, longer plantar testlatencies were seen relative to the control group. Before theseizures the plantar test reaction times were significantly shorterin forepaws than in hind paws. The effect disappeared postseizure and surprisingly, it also disappeared at the correspondingtime in controls; it reappeared after 48 h in the seizure groupand after 24 h in controls. Differences in the von Frey hairs testoccurred at 5 and 60 min post-seizure, however, thesedifferences could not be explained by limb anatomy; although,different thermal and mechanical nociception mechanisms couldbe significant. The unexpected reactions in controls could berelated to brief social and physical interactions between the twogroups.