Minabe Y, Emori K, Kurachi M
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Toyama Medical and Pharmaceutical University, Japan.
Jpn J Psychiatry Neurol. 1988 Jun;42(2):337-43. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-1819.1988.tb01985.x.
We assessed the effects of chronic treatment of methamphetamine (1-2 mg/kg/day, i.p., 17 days) and imipramine (2-8 mg/kg/day, p.o., 17 days) on amygdala-generating seizures using the kindling method induced by low-frequency electrical stimulations. The number of stimulating pulses required for the triggering of epileptic afterdischarge (pulse-number threshold: PNT) is the indicator of seizure generating threshold. A PNT elevation followed by its reduction occurred, compared to the pretreatment level, during a 2 mg/kg/day chronic methamphetamine treatment. A reduction in the PNT and triggered afterdischarge durations occurred during a chronic imipramine treatment. These results indicate that both methamphetamine and imipramine reduced the seizure generating threshold by repeated applications. It is suggested that this finding might be related to the psychoactive potency and associated neurochemical changes which are known to be caused by these drugs.
