Anticonvulsant drugs and their antagonism of kindled amygdaloid seizures in rats

The kindling phenomenon has become a useful animal model for studying the processes in the central nervous system involved in one type of epileptiform seizure response. A systematic, multipledose evaluation of 20 drugs known to have anticonvulsant properties and two new compounds (WB-CPI and SHK-I-11) is reported using a standard protocol with rats kindled by amygdaloid stimulation. Drugs which have a wide anticonvulsant spectrum of activity against various animal models of epilepsy were the most effective. The barbiturates, the benzodiazepines, a piperazine, an acetate derivative and WB-CPI (a significantly modified phenacylurea), were found to be the most effective in attenuating the induced seizures. Kindled amygdaloid seizures in the rat can be characterized as a model useful for the detection of a wide variety of anticonvulsants likely to be effective in many types of experimental seizures. The compound WB-CPI merits further neuropharmacological and psychopharmacological testing due to its activity in rats.