Theophylline-induced changes in mouse electroencephalograms.

Theophylline can induce life-threatening seizures in humans, especially in infants, but the mechanism of induction remains unknown. We investigated the effects of orally administered theophylline on mouse electroencephalograms (EEGs). ddY mice, which are generally completely free of seizures, were used for the experiments. While EEGs, used as controls, showed no paroxysmal spike discharges, theophylline induced clear spike discharges. This study demonstrated that theophylline administered at doses that achieve low serum concentrations can cause spike discharges in mouse EEGs even without causing clinical seizures, indicating that theophylline plays a potent role in subclinical epileptogenicity.