Facilitation of kindling by convulsions induced by cocaine or lidocaine but not pentylenetetrazol.

The effect of drug-induced convulsions on kindling was studied in male Long-Evans rats. In Experiment 1 rats experienced a single convulsion induced by the intravenous infusion of cocaine, lidocaine, or pentylenetetrazol (PTZ), or received a control infusion of saline. Beginning eight days later all animals were kindled by daily stimulation of the olfactory bulb. Animals which had been convulsed by cocaine or lidocaine kindled significantly faster than either saline controls or PTZ-convulsed animals, which did not differ significantly. Experiment 2 was conducted to determine if an effect of PTZ on kindling could be obtained with repeated convulsions. Rats experienced three convulsions induced by cocaine or PTZ at 72 hr intervals, or control infusions of saline. Kindling began on the eighth day after the last infusion. Cocaine-convulsed animals again kindled significantly faster than saline or PTZ-convulsed animals, which did not differ significantly. The cocaine animals also had significantly longer afterdischarges than the saline group at the end of kindling and when stimulated again 21 days after kindling was completed. These results suggest that the facilitating effect of cocaine-induced convulsions is not a general property of all convulsants but is a more specific effect which is apparently shared by other local anesthetics.