Mathern et al performed the only electrophysiological study looking into the time course of hippocampal interictal spike frequency after intrahippocampal kainite injection and correlated this with histopathological changes. Four stages were classified from this with: (i) the acute phase relating to the first 10 days after kainite-induced status epilepticus; (ii) the active phase from days 10 to 30; (iii) the latent phase relating to the latency period (days 30 to 90); and (iv) the chronic phase with the development of chronic hippocampal seizures (after 90 days). Interictal spike frequency was noted to drop during the latent phase and increase again during the chronic stage in concert with the development of behavioral seizures, neuronal loss and mossy fiber sprouting. (69) Status epilepticus models also demonstrate a varying clinical response of the animal subjects to differing doses of convulsive agents. A high mortality rate is not unexpected and severe neuronal loss is often encountered histologically. Initial seizures are unpredictable in their duration and severity and may be difficult to control. Acute antiseizure medications such as benzodiazepines are often needed to bring about a cessation of the status epilepticus state. It is clear, however, that the onset of spontaneous seizures is directly related to the duration of the status epilepticus state and at least 30 minutes duration of initial status epilepticus is required for manifesting an epileptogenic process (53) .