Cardiac hypertrophy secondary to status epilepticus in the rat.

Status epilepticus was induced in rats by sequential injections of lithium and pilocarpine. Seizure activity was aborted by a combination of MK-801 and diazepam, with status duration ranging from 3 to 180 min. When the hearts were examined 8-12 days later, rats that had experienced an episode of status epilepticus had significantly heavier hearts than did controls. The nature of the cardiac tissue changes was not examined, and deserves further study.