Catecholamine levels in penicillin-induced epileptic focus of the cat cerebral cortex

Abstract

In 25 cats an unilateral epileptic focus was produced by intracortical injection of potassium benzyl penicillin and on the other hemisphere, sham-operation was done by injection of the same volume of saline solution without penicillin. Catecholamine analysis was performed for each hemisphere separately. In a second series of 15 cats, the effect of catecholamines and of 1-DOPA on penicillin-induced spike activity was examined. In the first and second stage of propagation of penicillin-induced spikes, dopamine and norepinephrine significantly decreased in the focus. In the third stage no differences existed. The penicillin-induced spike activity was reduced as well by the topical application of dopamine as of 1-DOPA, whilst no inhibitory effect was observed in the topical application of norepinephrine.