Vol. 284, Issue 3, 868-877, March 1998

Reversal of Behavioral Effects of Pentylenetetrazol by the Neuroactive Steroid Ganaxolone¹

Marjolein Beekman² , Jesse T. Ungard, Maciej Gasior³ , Richard B. Carter, Durk Dijkstra² , Steven R. Goldberg and Jeffrey M. Witkin

Drug Development Group (J.T.U., M.G., S.R.G., J.M.W.), Preclinical Pharmacology Laboratory, Addiction Research Center, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, Maryland and Department of Medicinal Chemistry (M.B., D.D.), University Centre of Pharmacy, Ant. Deusinglaan 1, The Netherlands and Department of Pharmacology (R.B.C.), CoCensys Inc., Irvine, California

Neuroactive steroids are naturally occurring or synthetically derived compounds many of which have anticonvulsant, anesthetic, anxiolytic, analgesic or hypnotic properties. The major site of neuronal activity appears to be with a specific steroid-sensitive site on the -aminobutyric acid_A receptor/chloride ionophore complex. Ganaxolone (3-hydroxy-3-methyl-5-pregnan-20-one) is a synthetic neuroactive steroid protected from metabolic attack of the 3 position. Ganaxolone is an efficacious anticonvulsant agent in a variety of acute seizure models, as well as in electrical and chemical kindling models, and is currently under Phase II clinical investigation for epilepsy. A prior observation that ganaxolone appeared to reverse the marked behavioral changes induced by the convulsant pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) was systematically examined in the present study. A model to quantify PTZ-induced behaviors is described and used to evaluate ganaxolone in comparison with the anticonvulsants valproate, ethosuximide, clonazepam, diazepam and phenobarbital. All compounds were compared using dose equivalents based on their respective ED₅₀ values in preventing convulsions induced by 70 mg/kg PTZ. The ED₅₀ and lower doses of ganaxolone prevented the observed behavioral effects of PTZ as well as its depressant effects on locomotor activity and rearing of mice. In contrast, the other anticonvulsants, if effective, were much less potent. Strikingly, most of the other anticonvulsants were incapable of preventing all the behavioral effects of PTZ. Only phenobarbital prevented all the behavioral effects of PTZ and only at doses 4 to 8 times the anticonvulsant ED₅₀. Rather than normalizing behavior as ganaxolone did, however, phenobarbital resulted in supranormal behavioral responses (e.g., increases in activity). Repeated administration of PTZ did not decrease the protective efficacy of ganaxolone. The results document the unique pharmacological profile of ganaxolone and suggest additional potential benefits from its use as an antiepileptic. Furthermore, because behavioral effects of PTZ have been used to model anxiety and anxiety associated with withdrawal from drugs of abuse, ganaxolone may find additional therapeutic application in those areas.