Correlation studies of individual variation in susceptibility to various components of HPNS in mice.

Individual convulsion threshold pressures were determined in mice exposed successively to type I and type II convulsions of the high-pressure neurological syndrome (HPNS), as well as in others exposed, in successive compressions, to type I convulsions under diverse conditions of replication of compression rate. Correlation analyses of the results showed the following degrees of correlation of individual convulsion-threshold pressures: type I with type II-negligible (r2 less than equal to 0.2); type I with type I at the same compression rate-closely correlated (r2 greater than or equal to 0.8); type I with type I at a different compression rate-negligible (r2 less than or equal to 0.2). Individual susceptibility to HPNS (type I) convulsions thus is a stable characteristic of individual seizures vary independently of one another. Likewise, the magnitude of the individual compression rate effect varies independently of intrinsic individual susceptibility to type I HPNS seizures. The results support the view that the HPNS is a composite entity, define constraints on personnel selection, and provide a basis for estimating the efficacy of various selection strategies.