ncs-382 and Epilepsy--Absence

The systemic injection of gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) elicits spike and wave discharges (SWDs), the EEG hallmark of absence seizures, and represents a well established, widely used pharmacological model of this nonconvulsive epilepsy. Despite this experimental use of GHB, as well as its therapeutic use in narcolepsy and its increasing abuse, however, the precise cellular mechanisms underlying the different pharmacological actions of this drug are still unclear. Because sensory thalamic nuclei play a key role in the generation of SWDs and sleep rhythms, and because direct injection of GHB in the ventrobasal (VB) thalamus elicits SWDs, we investigated GHB effects on corticothalamic EPSCs and GABAergic IPSCs in VB thalamocortical (TC) neurons. GHB (250 microm-10 mm) reversibly decreased the amplitude of electrically evoked EPSCs and GABAA IPSCs via activation of GABAB receptors; however, approximately 60% of the IPSCs were insensitive to low (250 microm-1.0 mm) GHB concentrations. The putative GHB receptor antagonist NSC 382 applied alone had a number of unspecific effects, whereas it either had no action on, or further increased, the GHB-elicited effects on synaptic currents. Low GHB concentrations (250 microm) were also effective in increasing absence-like intrathalamic oscillations evoked by cortical afferent stimulation. These results indicate that low concentrations of GHB, similar to the brain concentrations that evoke SWDs in vivo, differentially affect excitatory and inhibitory synaptic currents in TC neurons and promote absence-like intrathalamic oscillations. Furthermore, the present data strengthen previous suggestions on the GHB mechanism of sleep promotion and will help focus future studies on the cellular mechanisms underlying its abuse.

Topics: Afferent Pathways; Animals; Benzocycloheptenes; Cells, Cultured; Electric Conductivity; Epilepsy, Absence; Evoked Potentials; Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials; GABA-B Receptor Agonists; Hydroxybutyrates; Neural Inhibition; Neurons, Afferent; Patch-Clamp Techniques; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Receptors, Cell Surface; Receptors, GABA-B; Synaptic Transmission; Thalamus

Experiments were performed to examine the roles of gamma-aminobutyric acid(B) (GABA(B)) and gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) receptors in long-term potentiation (LTP) of the hippocampal CA1 region in vivo and in the genesis of the spike and wave discharges (SWDs) associated with absence seizures. When tetanic stimulation was delivered to the CA3 region, stable LTP was observed in the CA1 region in saline-treated mice. In mice treated with 5 mg/kg baclofen, the population spike amplitude was significantly potentiated by tetanic stimulation and the degree of potentiation was the same as that induced in saline controls. However, this potentiation decayed to the baseline level about 90 min after stimulation. The decay was reversed by pretreatment with 200 mg/kg P-[3-aminopropyl]-P-diethoxymethylphosphinic acid (CGP 35348), a selective GABA(B) receptor antagonist. In mice treated with 50 mg/kg gamma-butyrolactone (GBL), a prodrug of GHB, stable LTP was observed 90 min after tetanic stimulation and was greater than that in saline controls. GBL-induced potentiation of LTP was antagonized by 50 mg/kg NCS 382, a putative GHB receptor antagonist. Administration of baclofen (20 mg/kg) or GBL (70 mg/kg) induced absence-like seizures associated with 3-6 Hz SWDs, and CGP 35348 suppressed both baclofen- and GBL-induced SWDs. NCS 382 also attenuated SWDs induced by GBL and baclofen. These results suggest that baclofen and GHB have different effects on LTP in the CA1 region of the hippocampus in vivo, although they have a common mode of action on the thalamocortical functions related to the pathogenesis of absence seizures.

Topics: 4-Butyrolactone; Animals; Anticonvulsants; Baclofen; Benzocycloheptenes; Electroencephalography; Epilepsy, Absence; Female; GABA Agonists; GABA Modulators; Hippocampus; Long-Term Potentiation; Male; Mice; Receptors, Cell Surface; Receptors, GABA-B

Hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) is a naturally occurring compound that has the ability to induce generalized absence seizures possibly by GABAB-receptor-mediated mechanisms. The object of these experiments was to examine the effectiveness of a range of specific GABAB-receptor agonists and antagonists of varying specificity, as well as the specific GHB-receptor antagonist NCS 382, in two experimental animal models of generalized absence seizures: one in which the seizures are induced by GHB and the other in which the seizures are induced by administration of low-dose (20-mg/kg) pentylenetetrazole. All specific GABAB-receptor antagonists as well as the specific GHB-receptor antagonist produced blockade of experimental absence seizures in both models; pretreatment with GABAB-receptor agonists resulted in generalized absence status epilepticus lasting for hours. These data confirm the concept that specific GABAB-receptor antagonist activity confers antiabsence seizure activity, suggest that the same holds for specific GHB-receptor antagonists, and raise the possibility that both GHB- and GABAB-antagonist drugs have the potential to be useful therapeutic agents in generalized absence seizures.

Topics: Animals; Anticonvulsants; Baclofen; Benzocycloheptenes; Electroencephalography; Epilepsy, Absence; GABA Agonists; GABA Antagonists; GABA-B Receptor Antagonists; Injections, Intraventricular; Isomerism; Male; Pentylenetetrazole; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley