Beside the age-related differences in seizure properties, little is known about long-term effects of seizures on cerebral activity. In order to assess the long-term cerebral functional consequences of recurrent seizures arising during development, generalized convulsions were repeatedly induced in rats at different stages of cerebral maturation. Seizures lasting for 1 to 2 hours were induced by i.p. injections of bicuculline, a GABAA receptor antagonist, for three consecutive days starting from postnatal day 5 (P5) to postnatal day 7 (P7), a period at which the brain is very immature, or from P15 to P17, when synaptic connections are well organized. Control animals from the same litter were given equivalent doses of saline (n=6 for each group). Local cerebral metabolic rates for glucose were measured at P15, P25 and in adults (P60) in 74 brain structures by the quantitative autoradiographic method using 2-D-[14C]deoxyglucose. Recurrent seizures in P5-P7 rats led to a generalized reduction of energy metabolism at P15, varying from 16 to 34% and which was significant in 19 structures, mainly in sensory systems (p<0.05), motor and functionally non-specific areas (p<0.05) as well as in cerebellar nuclei (p<0.05). At P25, glucose metabolism transiently normalized with no significant difference from controls, but brain functional activity was reduced again in adults, mostly in auditory system (20%, p<0.05) and cerebellar nuclei (27%, p<0.05). In P15-P17 animals, recurrent seizures led to high mortality rate on the third day of seizures compared to P5-P7 rats(62% versus 22%). The surviving animals showed a decrease in cerebral glucose consumption at P25, varying from 7 to 27% and significant in 23 cerebral structures essentially localized in auditory system (p<0.01), hypothalamus (p<0.05), white matter (p<0.05) as well as in limbic system(p<0.05), depicting the limbic components of seizures at the P15-P17 developmental stage. At P60, brain functional activity finally returned to basal values. Therefore, repetitive seizure activity in the youngest group(P5-P7) is more deleterious for adult brain functional activity than seizures in the more mature group (P15-P17). This outlines the importance of the stage of brain maturity when seizures arise, in the extent and specific localization of metabolic consequences. Furthermore, such findings are in good agreement with clinical observations suggesting that long-term functional deficits are more severe and persistent when seizures occur earlier in life.