@article{1e7a92336c9b49d9b2128667906dc5ab,
title = "Ketamine: Convulsant or anti-convulsant?",
abstract = "Ketamine hydrochloride in doses producing narcotic-cataleptic effects (50-100 mg/kg, IP) reduced the intensity of picrotoxin convulsions and eliminated seizures caused by metrazol administration. Subcataleptic doses (5-20 mg/kg) increased the duration of mitigated convulsive symptoms (abortive grand mal fits, jerks) especially those evoked by picrotoxin. Narcotic-cateleptic doses of ketamine considerably increased the duration of the period of single and multiple jerks produced by picrotoxin administration. Both convulsants transformed 1-2 Hz {"}ketamine complexes{"} into 2-4 Hz Wave-spike discharges which appeared in a quasi-periodic fashion alternating with periods of relatively suppressed electrocortical activity. Electroencephalographic grand mal patterns were typically dissociated from behavioral manifestations under 50-100 mg/kg of ketamine, followed by a short period of postictal depression and a rapid recovery of preseizure electrographic patterns. Findings suggest that mechanisms involved in seizure alleviation may be responsible for sustaining mitigated convulsive phenomena. Neuro-chemical processes underlying antiepileptic ketamine potency remain unknown.",
keywords = "Ketamine, Metrazol, Picrotoxin, Status pathophysiology",
author = "Myslobodsky, {M. S.} and V. Golovchinsky and M. Mintz",
note = "Funding Information: However, some practitioners have administered ketamine to epileptic patients without aggravating their state \[3,4}. Furthermore, ketamine has been demonstrated to cause a dose-related transient suppression of the neocortical and hippocampal focal electrographic seizures in cats produced by penicillin \[3\].C elesia et al. \[3\]c ame to the conclusion that {"}ketamine had no convulsant properties, but a rather mild antiepileptic effect (p. 352).{"} In a study by DeVore et al. \[5\], ketamine depressed the projected spiking of the cobalt focus. The effect of ketamine on the primary focus can be inferred from the rotation behavior of rats which was directed towards the cobalt focus. Typically the focal activity was observed in a quiet rather than actively moving animal suggesting that ketamine-induced rotation hardly aggravated interictal activity. In addition, ketamine causes rotation in the same direction as amphetamine \[14\]. Electrophysiological analysis indicated that circling is directed towards the less active hemisphere \[19\]. These findings suggest that cobalt-induced activity should be slowed down under ketamine in order to cause ipsilateral rotation. Considering this evidence it is difficult to accept the conclusion ~This study was initiated at the Reed Neurological Research Center, UCLA School of Medicine. Drs. J. Engel, Jr. and R. Ackermann generously provided their research facilities and assistance. This work was partially supported by a grant from Mr. H. Pardee and A. and E. Spiegel Family Foundation. We thank Ms. R. Tomer for manuscript assistance. Presented at the 10th Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, November 1980, Cincinnati, OH. 2Send reprint requests to: Dr. M. S. Myslobodsky, Psychobiology Research Unit, Tel Aviv University, Sharett 109, Ramat Aviv, Israel.",
year = "1981",
month = jan,
doi = "10.1016/0091-3057(81)90099-X",
language = "אנגלית",
volume = "14",
pages = "27--33",
journal = "Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior",
issn = "0091-3057",
publisher = "Elsevier Inc.",
number = "1",
}