title: Corticotropin-releasing hormone: potentiation of cocaine-kindled seizures and lethality.
abstract: Carbamazepine (CBZ) blocks the development of local anesthetic seizures kindled by cocaine and lidocaine. Cocaine and lidocaine release corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) in hypothalamic cell cultures, and this effect is also blocked by CBZ. Because CRH administered intracerebroventricularly (i.c.v.) can produce seizures, its potential role in the development of cocaine seizures and in the anticonvulsant effects of CBZ was studied. CRH (at doses of 5, 10, and 100 micrograms) potentiated cocaine-kindled seizure development and lethality in a dose-related fashion. CRH also reversed the effects of CBZ on cocaine kindling and lethality, but only at the highest doses, which also affected cocaine kindling. Thus, a selective role for CRH in the anticonvulsant effects of CBZ was not demonstrated. The findings suggest a potentially important role for CRH in exacerbating cocaine-seizure evolution and its associated lethality and confirm the inhibition of cocaine kindling and lethality by CBZ.
authors.affiliation: Biological Psychiatry Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892.
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Weiss
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nierenberg
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Post
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002220:Carbamazepine / Q000494:pharmacology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003042:Cocaine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003346:Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004336:Drug Antagonism; D004357:Drug Synergism; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D007276:Injections, Intraventricular; D007696:Kindling, Neurologic / Q000187:drug effects*; D008297:Male; D008959:Models, Neurological; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012640:Seizures / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control
chemical_list: D002220:Carbamazepine; D003346:Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone; D003042:Cocaine