[Genetically determined predisposition to convulsive seizures as a result of a generalized defect in catecholamine metabolism in the central nervous system]. / Geneticheski determinirovannaia predraspolozhennost' k sudorozhnym pripadkam kak sledstvie generalizovannogo defekta metabolizma katekholaminov v tsentral'noi nervnoi sisteme.

ABSTRACT

The author compared the functional properties of the strial system in KM rats sensitive to the convulsive effects of sound and in Wistar rats which are insensitive to those effects. It was shown that bulbocapnine (an antagonist of dopamine) administered to the Wistar rats in a dose of 40 mg/kg body weight caused catalepsy, depressed the motor cortex excitability and raised the threshold of the generalized Jacksonian-type convulsions. The KM rats showed neither catalepsy, nor the rise of the generalized convulsion threshold, and the depression of the motor cortex excitability in them was but slight. Examinations of the apomorphine-induced stereotypy (dose 1.0 to 10 mg/kg) showed that in the KM rats the sensitivity of the receptors to dopamine was changed. The hyperproduction of catecholamines in the striatum, the hypothalamus, and the adrenals in the KM rats suggests that the predisposition to epileptimorph states correlates with a generalized defect in the metabolism of catecholamines. It is supposed that the hypersensitivity of the KM rats to epileptogenic effects is due to a deficit (caused by the excess of dopamine) of striatum depressing function.