The effect of alcohol on convulsions and nitric oxide levels in seizure-susceptible el mice.
To evaluate the influences of ethanol intake on convulsive seizures and brain nitric oxide (NO) production, EL mice, a strain highly susceptible to seizures, were given a 10% ethanol solution ad libitum. In mice consuming ethanol for 4, 8, and 12 weeks, seizures were not suppressed by zonisamide (75 mg/kg ip). Brain NO metabolite levels in mice after 12 weeks of consumption were significantly lower than those in control mice and those consuming ethanol for 4 weeks. Numbers of NADPH diaphorase-positive neurons in the hippocampal formation and parietal cortex of mice consuming for 4 and 12 weeks were significantly higher than in controls. These results suggested that increasing of numbers of NADPH diaphorase-positive neurons in the hippocampal formation and parietal cortex were assumed to develop in compensation for reduction in whole-brain NO metabolite levels of EL mice exposed to ethanol.
Nagatomo
I
I
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Kagoshima University, 8-35-1, Sakuragaoka, Kagoshima, 890-8520, Japan.
Uchida
M
M
Akasaki
Y
Y
Hashiguchi
W
W
Tominaga
M
M
Kuchiiwa
S
S
Nakagawa
S
S
Takigawa
M
M