Topic: flurothyl

Neurological disorders can be caused by genetic alterations in many genes; UBE3A is one such gene, as a mutation or deletion in the maternal copy of this gene has been shown to cause Angelman Syndrome (AS). AS is a developmental disorder that affects 1 in 15,000 live births, and is characterized by many symptoms, with seizures being highly penetrant and debilitating. Previous research on the pathological characterization of AS model mice showed an increased seizure susceptibility as well as abnormally high levels of perineuronal net (PNN) fluorescence. Our project aims to determine whether the

Sexual dimorphism of the developing brain raises the question that early seizures could have distinct effects in immature males and females. This study focuses on the short- and long-term effects of repeated neonatal flurothyl-induced seizures on behavioral responses in male and female rats. A total of 33 Wistar albino rats were used: 17 males (8 controls, 9 treated) and 16 females (7 controls, 9 treated). Animals were repeatedly tested at juvenile and adult ages. At postnatal day 6, the pups were separated from mothers for ~10 minutes (treated: 5 min flurothyl exposure until generalized tonic