Convulsant Threshold Dosages of Picrotoxin and Strychnine Sulfate in Normal and Epileptic Monkeys

¹ From the Department of Bacteriology, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York City

In the activation of clinical seizures in monkeys by parenteral injection of drugs, both the analeptic agent and technique of administration are significant factors. Monkeys made epileptic by cerebral application of alumina cream had lower thresholds than normals for clinical convulsions following the rapid intravenous or intramuscular injection of picrotoxin but not for similarly injected strychnine sulfate. Intravenous or intramuscular injection of 0.35 mg/kg picrotoxin is recommended as a challenge dosage capable of inducing clinical convulsions in epileptic but not in normal monkeys. These results suggest that picrotoxin parenterally injected might be useful in activating clinical seizures in human epileptics, particularly of the cortical type.