Effects of I(+)glutamic Acid and Other Agents on Experimental Seizures

CLINICAL reports 1 of the efficacy of glutamic acid in the symptomatic therapy of patients with petit mal and psychomotor epilepsy prompted the following investigation of the effects of this amino acid on electrically and chemically produced convulsions in laboratory animals, in order to determine whether glutamic acid could be shown experimentally to be an anticonvulsant agent and to compare its efficacy and mechanism of action with other anticonvulsant drugs. METHODS AND PROCEDURES Mice, rats, cats, rabbits and monkeys were used in metrazol 2 experiments. Rats, cats, rabbits and monkeys were employed for a variety of electric shock experiments. The effect of glutamic acid was also investigated in rats in which the electric shock threshold had been previously lowered by hydration (produced by orally administered water or by experimental selective loss of extracellular electrolyte). Electric shock seizures were induced by an Offner 60 cycle alternating current apparatus. Spiegel corneal electrodes