Enhanced setup for wired continuous long-term EEG monitoring in juvenile and adult rats: application for epilepsy and other disorders

Table 1 Successful applications of the swivel-balance EEG cage system

Age at time of recording initiation	Number of animals	Acquired seizure model	Duration of long-term EEG recording	Reason for EEG termination	Premature disconnections
P45–55	40	Hypoxic seizures	3 months	Experimental protocol	Two unplanned premature disconnections due to cable chewing
P45	2	Kainic acid model of TLE	3 months	Experimental protocol	None
P45–50	20	TBI	1–2 months	Experimental protocol	None
P45	120	Kainic acid model of TLE	24–72 h	Experimental protocol	None

Shown in this table are illustrations of various successful applications using our EEG setup in animal models of acquired seizures. Recordings are started in male Sprague–Dawley rats at 40–45 days of age (P40–45) with a weight range of 200–250 g. The recordings are performed on multiple rats simultaneously (8 rats per EEG recorder) for up to 2–3 months (weights reaching up 500 g) as dictated by the set experimental paradigms. So far, there were only 2 premature disconnections around P140 due to chewing of the cable by rather older rats. This problem was remediated in subsequent recordings with placing metal spring covers on the EEG cable hanging inside the cage (TLE temporal lobe epilepsy)

ISSN: 1471-2202