| Autor: |
WATANABE, KATHY S., SCHAIN, RICHARD J., BAILEY, BEVA G. |
| Zdroj: |
Pediatric Research (Ovid); September 1978, Vol. 12 Issue: 9 p918-922, 5p |
| Abstrakt: |
This study was concerned with the effect of chronic phenobarbital treatment of seizure behavior in a strain of Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) that is predisposed to spontaneous seizures. Subcutaneous injections of 60 mg/kg phenobarbital were given daily to the experimental animals from 1–5 months of age. Control animals received equivalent doses of vehicle. At the termination of treatment (5 months), animals were tested regularly for seizure susceptibility until 1 year of age. Phenobarbital-treated animals exhibited an intensification of seizure activity both during and after the period of drug treatment. All animals receiving phenobarbital had one or more spontaneous seizures during the treatment period; 67 of the controls exhibited seizures. During this time phenobarbital-treated animals had an average of 10.5 seizures with a mean seizure degree of +3.2 (scale of 1–5), whereas the controls had an average of 3.5 seizures with a mean seizure degree of +2.4. During the entire 7-month post-treatment period, the phenobarbital-treated animals displayed a mean seizure degree of +3.4 as opposed to +2.3 for the controls; drug-treated gerbils exhibited more frequent unstimulated seizures (66) than did controls (37). The latency to seize was shorter for the phenobarbital-treated animals (142 sec) than for controls (233 sec), and experimental animals had seizures of greater duration (231 sec) than did controls (107 sec). (All comparisons are significant at the 0.001 level.) These studies reveal that chronic phenobarbital administration enhancesseizure activity in the gerbil. This enhancement persists long after termination of phenobarbital treatment. The explanation for this paradoxical effect may lie in the effects of phenobarbital upon the development of brain inhibitory mechanisms. |
| Databáze: |
Supplemental Index |
| Externí odkaz: |
|
