title: Chemical toxins that cause seizures.
abstract: Seizurogenic chemicals include a variety of toxic agents, including chemical warfare agents, toxic industrial chemicals, and natural toxins. Chemical weapons such as sarin and VX, and pesticides such as parathion and carbaryl cause hyperstimulation of cholinergic receptors and an increase in excitatory neurotransmission. Glutamatergic hyperstimulation can occur after exposure to excitatory amino acid toxins such as the marine toxin domoic acid. Other pesticides such as lindane and strychnine do not affect excitatory neurotransmission directly, but rather, they block the inhibitory regulation of neurotransmission by antagonism of inhibitory GABA and glycine synapses. In this paper, chemicals that cause seizures by a variety of molecular mechanisms and pathways are discussed.
authors.affiliation: National Institutes of Health, NINDS, 6001 Executive Blvd. NSC, Room 2177, MSC 9527, Bethesda, MD 20892-9527, United States. Electronic address: jettd@ninds.nih.gov.
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Jett
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002619:Chemical Warfare Agents / Q000633:toxicity; D002800:Cholinesterase Inhibitors / Q000633:toxicity; D003486:Cyanides / Q000633:toxicity; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000633:toxicity*; D006801:Humans; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D020258:Neurotoxicity Syndromes / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D010575:Pesticides / Q000633:toxicity; D012307:Risk Factors; D012640:Seizures / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D002619:Chemical Warfare Agents; D002800:Cholinesterase Inhibitors; D003486:Cyanides; D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D007473:Ion Channels; D010575:Pesticides