Concordance of quantitative damage within the diencephalon and telencephalon following systemic pilocarpine (380 mg/kg) or lithium (3 mEq/kg)/pilocarpine (30 mg/kg) induced seizures.
We tested the hypothesis that a single systemic injection of 380 mg/kg of the muscarinic agonist pilocarpine would produce more diffuse and severe seizure-induced brain damage than a single injection of lithium (3 mEq/kg) followed 4 h later by < 1/10 the dosage of pilocarpine. The hypothesis was not supported; the pattern of quantitative brain damage 50-60 days after the seizures were elicited by either treatment was comparable within the limits of measurement error. Within the diencephalon and subcortical telencephalon the same structures were either damaged in a similar quantitative manner or were spared. Only five of the 119 damaged structures exhibited statistically significant treatment differences at P < 0.01. The results are compatible with the explanation that lithium may enhance the excitotoxic effects of subsequent muscarinic stimulation.
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Behavioral Neuroscience Program, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ont., Canada.
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D000075:Acepromazine / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D004027:Diencephalon / Q000473:pathology*; D008094:Lithium / Q000633:toxicity*; D008297:Male; D018721:Muscarinic Agonists / Q000633:toxicity; D009336:Necrosis; D010862:Pilocarpine / Q000633:toxicity*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012640:Seizures / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000473:pathology*; D013687:Telencephalon / Q000473:pathology*; D016707:Tissue Fixation
D018721:Muscarinic Agonists; D010862:Pilocarpine; D000075:Acepromazine; D008094:Lithium