Lidocaine kindling does not generate epilepsy.

Forty Wistar rats were injected with a solution of lidocaine (90 mg/kg s.c.) 5 days per week for 30-40 days. In 36 of the animals, attacks of stiffness were obtained. After a period of disordered movements, the animals, remained completely immobile with the hindlimbs rigidly extended. The attacks of stiffness lasted from 10 to 60 minutes. The hemisection of the spinal cord at the thoracic level suppressed the rigidity of the ipsilateral leg. Electrical recording with electrodes applied to the cortex or implanted in the depth of the temporal lobe failed to reveal paroxysmal activity. These data could not confirm the results of other authors reporting typical epileptic seizures after lidocaine kindling. Despite essential differences, epileptic kindling and lidocaine-kindled stiffness attacks are both manifestations of the central nervous system plasticity. Therefore it appears that pharmacologically induced plasticity is a more general process than epileptic kindling.