Effects of diphenylhydantoin and cholinergic agents on the neuronally isolated cerebral cortex

Electrocorticographic effects of topically applied scopolamine

The electrocorticographic effects of topically applied scopolamine were investigated in unanesthetized cats with high cervical transection. After subpial injection of 30 cumu scopolamine in concentrations of 10 to 20%, large amplitude intermittent sharp waves appeared in the electrocorticogram, which developed into long-lasting paroxysmal activity. This effect was antagonized by intravenous eserine, 0.1 mg/kg, when it was produced by topical scopolamine in low dosage. The acoustically evoked cortical response and the generalized epileptiform activity produced by topical succinylcholine disappeared after topical scopolamine in low dosage. It is suggested that the seizure-suppressing effect of scopolamine may be due to its cholinolytic action. The convulsive activity of topical scopolamine in high concentrations may be accounted for by its depolarizing, synchronizing, disinhibiting, and acetylcholine-releasing effects.

Differential effects of phenobarbital and pentobarbital on isolated nervous tissue

Epileptiform after discharges evoked by repetitive electrical stimulation of chronically isolated cortical slabs (cat) were shortened by low doses of phenobarbital but not affected by hypnotic doses of pentobarbital. Both pentobarbital and phenobarbital raised threshold and lowered spike amplitude in isolated sciatic nerves. The action of both drugs was increased by reducing Na in the medium and by decreasing the Ringer's pH. Similar to the action of other general anesthetics, the axonal effect of pentobarbital was enhanced by D2O replacement for H2O in the Ringer's (suggesting that tissue water is involved in pentobarbital action), whereas D2O replacement did not modify the action of phenobarbital or of local anesthetics. These results suggest that the varying in vivo effects of pentobarbital and phenobarbital may be due to a difference in their action upon excitable membranes (rather than to a different regional distribution in brain).

Acetylcholine inhibition in the intact and chronically isolated cerebral cortex

1. Some spontaneously firing cells in the cerebral cortex of cats can be depressed by iontophoretically applied acetylcholine or acetyl-beta-methylcholine, and this depression is antagonized by atropine. Thirteen per cent of 101 spontaneously active neurones tested were depressed by cholinergic agents and 64% were excited.2. Single stimuli applied to the adjacent cortical surface excited 132 neurones orthodromically. Acetylcholine or acetyl-beta-methylcholine depressed this synaptic firing in 18% of the cells. The depression was blocked by atropine.3. The population of neurones in which cholinergic agents depressed spontaneous or synaptic firing was located within the superficial half of the cortex.4. Glutamate-induced firing was depressed by cholinergic agents in 41% of 211 cells tested; atropine and strychnine strongly antagonized this depressant action, while dihydro-beta-erythroidine was a weaker antagonist.5. Long duration inhibition of glutamate-induced firing evoked by repetitive stimulation of the cortical surface could be blocked by atropine or strychnine in both the intact and chronically isolated cortex. This provides strong evidence for a system of intracortical cholinergic neurones which make direct inhibitory contacts with neurones in the superficial layers of the cortex.

Effects of some sympathomimetic drugs and their antagonists on afterdischarges elicited in chronically isolated slabs of cerebral cortex

1. The role of sympathomimetic agents in the maintenance and termination of induced cortical epileptiform activity was studied in chronically neuronally isolated slabs of cerebral cortex in the suprasylvian gyrus of unanaesthetized, unrestrained cats.2. The administration of the sympathomimetic agents (+)-amphetamine, methamphetamine, tyramine, and ephedrine resulted in a highly significant decrease in the duration of epileptiform afterdischarge (EADs).3. The alpha-adrenoceptor blocking drugs phenoxybenzamine, phentolamine and tolazoline did not significantly alter the duration of EADs but prevented the decrease in duration of EADs produced by the sympathomimetic drugs.4. The effect of atropine and arecoline on the duration of EADs, previously described, were not modified by the alpha-adrenoceptor blocking drugs, but atropine prevented and reversed the inhibitory action of amphetamine.5. It is suggested that (1) in the chronically neuronally isolated cortical slab there is normally no spontaneous adrenergic activity, (2) a cortical, cholinergic inhibitory mechanism, previously described, is modulated by ascending adrenergic influences, (3) adrenergic cholinergic linkages might be arranged in the cortex in an alternating network, as proposed by Feldberg.