title: Anticonvulsant action of allopregnanolone in immature rats.
abstract: Anticonvulsant activity of allopregnanolone, a neurosteroid allosterically modulating GABA(A) receptor was tested in a model of motor seizures elicited by pentetrazol in immature rats. Rats 7, 12, 18, 25 or 90 days old were pretreated with allopregnanolone in doses from 5 to 40 mg/kg i.p. and 15 min later pentetrazol was injected subcutaneously in a dose of 100 mg/kg. Rats were observed in isolation for 30 min. Allopregnanolone dose-dependently suppressed both generalized tonic-clonic and minimal clonic seizures with the highest efficacy in 12-day-old rats. Anticonvulsant action was least expressed in adult animals. Duration of anticonvulsant action tested after a dose of 20 mg/kg in 12- and 90-day-old rats demonstrated markedly longer effects in young rats. Allopregnanolone compromised motor performance of rats but duration of this unwanted effect in 12-day-old rats was shorter than duration of anticonvulsant action. This difference can be important for possible clinical use of neurosteroids.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physiology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic. maresp@biomed.cas.cz
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mares
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mikulecká
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Haugvicová
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kasal
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000777:Anesthetics / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D007279:Injections, Subcutaneous; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects*; D010433:Pentylenetetrazole; D011280:Pregnanolone / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012640:Seizures / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D000777:Anesthetics; D011280:Pregnanolone; D010433:Pentylenetetrazole