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Effects of general depressant drugs on the electrical responses of isolated slabs of cat's cerebral cortex
Author(s) -
FRANK G. B.,
JHAMANDAS K.
Publication year - 1970
Publication title -
british journal of pharmacology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.432
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1476-5381
pISSN - 0007-1188
DOI - 10.1111/j.1476-5381.1970.tb09896.x
Subject(s) - convulsant , pharmacology , pethidine , promethazine , diazepam , chlorpromazine , anesthesia , meprobamate , chemistry , stimulation , imipramine , depressant , diphenhydramine , medicine , histamine , biochemistry , receptor , analgesic , alternative medicine , pathology
Summary1 In the neuronally isolated cortex of the cat, local application of diphenhydramine, promethazine, gammahydroxybutyrate, gammabutyrolactone, gamma aminobutyric acid, hyoscine and pethidine, and the intravenous injection of diazepam and meprobamate depressed or abolished the surface negative and surface positive response to direct stimulation and raised the stimulus threshold of the positive burst response. These effects were the same as previously demonstrated for general and local anaesthetics on the same preparation. 2 Chlorpromazine produced a similar depression in small concentrations but caused spontaneous activity in higher concentrations. 3 In contrast to local application, pethidine when given by intravenous injection in a high dose produced convulsant activity in the isolated cortical slab. The possibility was suggested that the convulsant activity was produced by a metabolite of pethidine. 4 The results of this investigation suggest that the central depression produced by a number of structurally unrelated drugs is indicative of an anaesthetic‐like property of these drugs.