Kinetics of drug action in disease states. XXXIII: Disparate effects of pentylenetetrazol in rats as a function of renal disease model and pharmacologic endpoint.

The purpose of this investigation was to determine if the pharmacodynamics of the central nervous system stimulant pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) are altered in renal dysfunction. Female rats subjected to bilateral ureteral ligation (with sham-operated controls) or injected with uranyl nitrate (with saline injected controls) were infused intravenously with PTZ until the onset of either a minimal (myoclonic jerk) or maximal (tonic hindlimb extension) seizure. Neither chemically nor surgically induced renal dysfunction caused a change in the concentrations of PTZ in CSF, serum, or brain at onset of minimal seizures. When PTZ was infused to onset of maximal seizures, the rats with chemically induced renal dysfunction required higher concentrations, whereas the ureter-ligated rats convulsed at lower concentrations of PTZ than did the corresponding control animals. Thus, the effects of experimental renal dysfunction on the convulsant action of PTZ are dependent on both the disease model and the endpoint used for the pharmacodynamic measurement. Apparently, renal dysfunction did not affect the PTZ-induced seizure threshold, but inhibited the spread of seizures. The increased sensitivity of ureter-ligated rats may be due to their pronounced retention of water, since water loading is known to increase seizure susceptibility.