Opioid peptides and seizures in the spontaneously epileptic Mongolian gerbil.

The naturally epileptic Mongolian gerbil was used to investigate the epileptogenic properties of beta-endorphin, dynorphin, met-enkephalin and morphine. The results indicate that opioid induced "seizures" are different from naturally spontaneous seizures in the gerbil in respect to EEG recording and motor behavior. Evidence for a protective role in preventing seizures is also presented.