EFFECTS OF CORTISOL AND DIPHENYLHYDANTOIN ON SPINAL CORD CONVULSIONS IN DEVELOPING RATS

¹ Department of Pharmacology, University of Utah College of Medicine, Salt Lake City, Utah

Spinal cord convulsions elicited by direct electrical stimulation of the spinal cord at two different frequencies were examined in control, cortisol-treated, and diphenylhydantoin-treated rats during maturation.

When cortisol was administered to rats from the 8th to the 11th days of age, the duration of flexion was significantly decreased at both frequencies of stimulation as compared to that of the appropriate controls; the duration of extension did not change. Wien cortisol was administered to rats for a 4-day period during the age of 1 to 7 days, the durations of flexion and extension did not differ from those in the appropriate controls.

Diphenylhydantoin, administered to 4-, 8-, and 12-day-old rats 45 minutes before spinal cord stimulation, significantly increased the duration of flexion and decreased the duration of extension in 4-day-old rats; in 8-and 12-day-old rats diphenylhydantoin did not affect the duration of flexion, but it significantly reduced the duration of extension.