Paradoxical effect of flurazepam.

Cold water swim stress has been shown to decrease the ability of flurazepam, a prototypic GABA-positive benzodiazepine, to antagonize the electrical precipitation of seizures in mice. This stress-induced reduction in the antiseizure efficacy of flurazepam is not due to a reduction in the threshold voltage for seizure production. In this study, we examined the effect of treating mice with flurazepam 20 min prior to cold water swim stress on its ability to antagonize electrically precipitated seizures 24 h later. Contrary to our expectation, pretreatment with flurazepam potentiated the stress-induced reduction of its antiseizure efficacy.