Amines, anticonvulsants, and epilepsy.

Concentrations of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-H.I.A.T.) in cerebrospinal fluid (C.S.F.) were significantly raised in twenty-seven anticonvulsant-treated epileptic patients compared with fifteen untreated epileptics and twenty-two neurological controls. This rise was not seen until therapeutic blood-levels of phenobarbitone and diphenylhydantoin had been achieved, and was most striking in clinically intoxicated patients. Similar trends were seen in C.S.F. homovanillic acid (H.V.A). There was a close correlation between C.S.F. 5-H.I.A.A. and H.V.A., especially in the treated epileptics. These findings have implications for the antiepileptic and toxic effects of anticonvulsant drugs.