Interrelations of Mesial Temporal and Orbital Frontal Areas of Man Revealed by Strychnine Spikes

Strychnine neuronography1has been extensively applied to the study of the functional connections of different parts of the brain, but almost all this work has been done on animals. Species differences are so great that it seemed desirable to obtain information about the functional connections of the temporal lobe in man. Material and Method During temporal lobectomies for psychomotor epilepsy and combined temporal and frontal surgery for psychosis, artificial foci of spike-seizure activity were produced with strychnine in the frontal and temporal lobes of 34 patients. Of this group, 14 received injections of strychnine into the thalamus on one or both sides. The patients were anesthetized with thiopental (Pentothal) sodium, but in a few cases part of the study was done with local anesthesia, supplemented by pentobarbital (Nembutal) or secobarbital (Seconal) by mouth for basal sedation. Strychnine (2% and 3%) was applied on small squares of filter paper, or