Allylglycine and brain excitability. Electrophysiological investigation in cats.

The effect of DL-allylglycine (DL-AG) in two doses (40 and 60 mg/kg i.v.) was studied on cats under acute conditions. DL-AG provoked the appearance of epileptiform EEG patterns either spontaneous or in response to intermittent light stimulation with a frequency of 5-25 Hz. The effect was dose-dependent. The paroxysmal EEG was restricted to or began in the cortex and later it appeared in the thalamus and mesencephalic reticular formation. This finding together with the observation that after DL-AG the visual evoked potentials increased in the primary visual cortex and decreased in the centre median nucleus and in the reticular formation support the view about the role of the cortex in the increased brain excitability and in the increased photosensitivity after allylglycine. The photosensitive of spontaneous epileptiform EEG activity in cats pretreated with DL-allylglycine could be an useful experimental model of epilepsy for assessing the efficacy of anticonvulsant drugs.