Central nervous system supersensitivity and withdrawal from long-term treatment with barbital.
The effects of withdrawal from long-term treatment with increasing concentrations of sodium barbital in the drinking water were studied in rats. Animals were tested 72 hr after the removal of the drug. Withdrawal of barbital induced a significant leftward displacement of the dose-response curves obtained for the convulsive effects of strychnine, picrotoxin and 3-mercaptopropionic acid. The removal of the drug also made the rats more sensitive to convulsions elicited by sound. Baclofen and THIP were able to decrease the audiogenic response score of rats, withdrawn from barbital, in a dose-dependent way. These effects were interpreted to be a consequence of changes in the sensitivity of central GABAA and/or noradrenergic receptors induced by depression due to long-term administration of barbital.
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D001462:Barbital / Q000633:toxicity*; D001463:Barbiturates / Q000633:toxicity*; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012640:Seizures / Q000139:chemically induced; D013375:Substance Withdrawal Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology*
D001463:Barbiturates; D001462:Barbital