EFFECT OF STRYCHNINE CONVULSIONS UPON THE ENTRY OF S³⁵ SULFATE INTO THE CAT CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM

¹ Children's-Brigham Unit of the Department of Neurology and Department of Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts

Cats injected with tracer amounts of S³⁵ sodium sulfate were convulsed with strychnine for 5 min before sacrifice. Autoradiography combined with radioassay of 16 anatomical brain areas, muscle, nerve and liver revealed marked increases in S³⁵ sulfate uptake, which were restricted to brain areas such as the lateral geniculate (316%), centrum medianum of thalamus (144%), cerebellar vermis (129%), medulla (207%) and cervical spinal cord (64%). The increase in the lateral geniculate was appreciably lese (221%) when the animal was blindfolded during the convulsion. Reversibility was indicated by return to normal S³⁵ sulfate uptake within 1 hr after the 5-min seizure had been arrested with methocarbamol and trimethadione. The percentage of S³⁵ sulfate metabolized in brain was reduced during a 5-min seizure. It was concluded that the localized increases in brain S³⁵ sulfate levels reflected enhanced vascular-extravascular exchange at sites known to undergo activation or rhythmic discharge in response to strychnine administration.

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