Misonidazole neurotoxicity in rats: Part II. Effect of pre- and intermittent treatment with pentobarbital on misonidazole neurotoxicity in the rat.

Rats pretreated for 5 days with 50 mg/kg of pentobarbital tolerated statistically significant higher doses of misonidazole before the onset of misonidazole-induced neurotoxicity than rats treated intermittently with the same dose of pentobarbital. Presumably in pretreated rats, pentobarbital induced an increase in the activities of hepatic microsomal enzymes that led to a more rapid metabolism of misonidazole than in rats treated only intermittently.