To investigate whether long-term functional consequences of status epilepticus (SE) induced by pentylenetetrazol in 10-day-old rats correlated with cell injury and/or death, acid fuchsin and TUNEL staining were performed between 4 to 144 h after SE. Acid fuchsin stained hippocampus, amygdala and cerebral cortex at 24 h but not at 72 and 144 h. No DNA fragmentation was apparent at any time. Thus, immature neurons subjected to sustained seizures suffer transiently but survive probably by activating repair processes.