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Corticotropin‐Releasing Hormone: Potentiation of Cocaine‐Kindled Seizures and Lethality
Author(s) -
Weiss Susan R. B.,
Nierenberg Jay,
Lewis Roderic,
Post Robert M.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
epilepsia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.687
H-Index - 191
eISSN - 1528-1167
pISSN - 0013-9580
DOI - 10.1111/j.1528-1157.1992.tb02313.x
Subject(s) - kindling , anticonvulsant , carbamazepine , pharmacology , lethality , lidocaine , epilepsy , corticotropin releasing hormone , hormone , medicine , anesthesia , psychology , endocrinology , neuroscience , toxicology , biology
Summary: Carbamazepine (CBZ) blocks the development of local anesthetic seizures kindled by cocaine and lidocaine. Cocaine and lidocaine release corticotropin‐releasing hormone (CRH) in hypothalamic cell cultures, and this effect is also blocked by CBZ. Because CRH administered intracerebroventricularly (i.c.v.) can produce seizures, its potential role in the development of cocaine seizures and in the anticonvulsant effects of CBZ was studied. CRH (at doses of 5, 10, and 100 μg) potentiated cocaine‐kindled seizure development and lethality in a dose‐related fashion. CRH also reversed the effects of CBZ on cocaine kindling and lethality, but only at the highest doses, which also affected cocaine kindling. Thus, a selective role for CRH in the anticonvulsant effects of CBZ was not demonstrated. The findings suggest a potentially important role for CRH in exacerbating cocaine‐seizure evolution and its associated lethality and confirm the inhibition of cocaine kindling and lethality by CBZ.