Anticonvulsant drugs and the genetically epilepsy-prone rat.

Anticonvulsant drugs were evaluated in members of two colonies of genetically epilepsy-prone rats (GEPR). Virtually all of the animals in the first colony experience a wild running fit that terminates in a generalized clonic convulsion when they are stimulated by sound. According to our convulsion intensity scoring system, these animals have an audiogenic response score (ARS) of 3 and the colony is designated the GEPR-3 colony. In the second colony, more than 95% of the animals experience a wild running phase terminating in a tonic extensor convulsion when they are stimulated by sound. That is, they have an ARS of 9 and the colony is designated the GEPR-9 colony. All of the established antiepileptic drugs that were tested produced anticonvulsant effects in the GEPR. Three tricyclic antidepressant agents acted as anticonvulsants in doses substantially lower than the toxic doses that produced spontaneous convulsions. Two of the established anticonvulsants, phenobarbital and ethosuximide, produced anticonvulsant effects in very similar doses in members of GEPR-3 and GEPR-9 colonies. Valproic acid produced an anticonvulsant effect in GEPR-3 in significantly lower doses than in GEPR-9. Carbamazepine, phenytoin, imipramine, amitriptyline, and desipramine produced anticonvulsant effects in essentially equimolar doses and in each case the protective dose was significantly lower in GEPR-9 than in GEPR-3 colonies. GEPR did not experience the convulsive effects of imipramine, amitriptyline, and desipramine at lower doses than did control animals. Thus, these epilepsy-prone animals are no more likely to experience convulsions in response to overdose of one of these three drugs than are nonepileptic subjects.