The effects of cocaine-induced seizures on the proenkephalin mRNA level in the mouse hippocampus: a possible involvement of the nitric oxide pathway.

The effect of the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor L-NG-nitroarginine methyl ester (L-NAME, 2 and 10 mg/kg i.p.) on behavioral and biochemical changes induced by single and repeated administration of cocaine (45 mg/kg/day, i.p., for 5 days) was investigated in mice. Repeated cocaine produced a progressive increase in the intensity of seizures (a ca. 300% increase in the seizure score on day 5, as compared to day 1), this effect being associated with the enhancement of the proenkephalin mRNA level (ca. 240%) in the hippocampal dentate gyrus. L-NAME had no influence, but when used jointly with cocaine, it markedly attenuated both behavioral and biochemical effects of repeated cocaine. These data suggest that the nitric oxide pathway is involved in the progressive increase in excitability of the central nervous system after repeated cocaine administration.