Effect of physical exercise on kindling development

The relationship between epilepsy and exercise is a subject of controversy and needs more investigation. We report a study of the effect of physical activity on the development of amygdala kindling in rats. To analyze the acute and chronic effects of exercise on kindling development, 45 rats were divided randomly into three groups. The first group (acute group, n = 15) was submitted to a daily bout of aerobic exercise (40 min running on the treadmill at 20 m/min) and kindling stimulated 1 min post-exercise; the second group (chronic group, n=15) was submitted to an aerobic training program (40 min running on the treadmill at 20 m/min, 7 days per week, for 45 days) and then submitted to the same procedure as the first group (daily bout of aerobic exercise - 40 min running on the treadmill at 20 m/min and kindling stimulated 1 min post-exercise); and the third group (n = 15) served as control. All groups were kindling stimulated until they reached stage 5 of kindling. The number of stimulations required to reach stage 5 was statistically higher for the chronic exercise group when compared to the acute exercise group and the control group. A longer time spent in stage 1 and a shorter after-discharge duration in stage I was observed in the acute and chronic exercise groups in relation to the control group. This finding suggests that chronic physical exercise inhibits development of amygdala kindling in rats. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.