Mechanisms of epileptic brain damage: evidence for a protective role of the noradrenergic locus coeruleus system in the rat.
This study explores the possibility that the noradrenergic locus coeruleus system influences epileptic brain damage. Bilateral 6-hydroxydopamine lesions of the locus coeruleus projection to the forebrain were found to aggravate neuronal necrosis in the neocortex following 60 min of flurothyl-induced status epilepticus. We propose that the activation of the inhibitory locus coeruleus system during status epilepticus counteracts a deleterious neuronal hyperexcitation, probably induced by excessive release of excitatory amino acids, thereby limiting neuronal necrosis.
D000320:Adrenergic Fibers / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006892:Hydroxydopamines / Q000494:pharmacology; D008125:Locus Coeruleus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D009409:Nerve Crush; D009410:Nerve Degeneration; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains
D006892:Hydroxydopamines; D009638:Norepinephrine