Anticonvulsant and sleep-waking influences of riluzole in a rat model of absence epilepsy.

Six WAG/Rij rats, an animal model of human absence epilepsy, were injected intraperitoneally with riluzole. At 4 mg/kg, riluzole decreased the number, mean duration and spike-frequency of the spontaneously occurring discharges for 3 h. Riluzole also increased slow wave sleep at the expense of waking. As riluzole at 3 mg/kg decreased the number and spike-frequency of the discharges without inducing a sedative effect, this compound could be of therapeutic interest in human absence epilepsy.