Antiepileptic effects of globulin-N, an intact human immunoglobulin and its tissue-distribution in kindled cats.

The antiepileptic effects of globulin-N, an intact human immunoglobulin was examined, using the amygdaloid kindled animals prepared by the method of Goddard et al. [1969] and Wada et al. [1974 b]. In the non-treated kindled cats, kindled convulsion and after-discharge (AD) were simultaneously created at 24-hour intervals by electrically stimulating generalized seizure-triggering threshold (GST) in amygdala, hippocampus and neocortex. The kindled cats, treated intravenously with 200 mg/kg of globulin-N, the generalized convulsion and AD produced by GST-stimulation disappeared entirely from 30 min to 8 days in 8 out of 10 cases. Furthermore, kindled cats treated with phenobarbital and phenytoin showed inhibition of GC and AD by GST-stimulation for 24-48 hours. Globulin-N was determined to have a plasma half-life of about 10 days in the kindled cats, and was presented immunohistochemically in the visceral organ, brain and spinal cord. The administered globulin-N passed through the BBB easily in the kindled cats with GST stimulation induced epileptic seizures, and was apparently taken up by the nerve and glial cells in the cerebral cortex and other deep structures of the central nervous system. These results may not only yield clues for the elucidation of the antiepileptic mechanisms of globulin-N, but may also support the clinical use of globulin-N in patients with intractable epilepsy [Ariizumi et al. 1982], including epileptic psychosis.