Endogenous opioid systems: physiological role in the self-limitation of seizures.
Immediately following a seizure, the severity of subsequent seizures is significantly reduced. The involvement of endogenous opioid systems as a physiological regulator of this postseizure inhibition was studied in rats using repeated maximal electroshock (MES) seizures. Both the opiate antagonist (-)-naloxone and morphine tolerance abolished the progressive seizure protection associated with repeated MES. We propose that endogenous opioids, activated by a prior seizure, provide a central homeostatic inhibitory mechanism which may be responsible for the initiation of a postictal refractory state in the epileptic.
D000818:Animals; D004361:Drug Tolerance; D004723:Endorphins / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009020:Morphine; D009270:Naloxone; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012640:Seizures / Q000503:physiopathology*
D004723:Endorphins; D009270:Naloxone; D009020:Morphine