THE DISTRIBUTION OF A NEW CENTRAL CONVULSANT: 10-(2-DIMETHYLAMINOPROPYL)-9-ACRIDONE

¹ Departments of Pharmacology and Psychiatry, College of Medicine, University of Illinois, Chicago 12, Illinois

A sensitive, specific method based on fluorescence is described for the determination of the tissue concentration of 10-(2-dimethylaminopropyl)-9-acridone, a potent convulsant agent. In the symptoms it produces and in its relationship to anticonvulsants the drug resembles pentamethylenetetrazol. Intravenous administration of threshold doses to rats and cats results in a marked concentration of the drug in brain and kidney. The concentration in the cortex is approximately 17 microgm./gm. of tissue when seizures are produced. Examination of the distribution of the drug in the central nervous system revealed a correlation between the number of cell bodies in a given portion of the neuraxis and the amount of uptake of the drug. Direct application of the drug to the surface of the cerebral cortex of cats produced spike discharges when the actual concentration of the drug in the tissue was 24 microgm./gm. Direct application studies also showed that spike discharges at points distant to the point of application were not the result of the diffusion of the drug.