Astroglial swelling and phosphohydrolases in cerebral cortex of metrazol convulsant rats

E. DE ROBERTIS; M. ALBERICI; G. RODRÍGUEZ DE LORES ARNAIZ

BRAIN RESEARCH

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Año: 1969 vol. 12 p. 461 - 466

0006-8993

Although Metrazol (pentylenetetrazol) has been extensively used as convulsantagent, the mechanism by which convulsions are produced is not well understood.In a study directed towards this goal we observed under the electron microscope that in rats undergoing convulsions there was a considerable swelling of the astroglial cells. This finding suggested a study of the cation stimulated phosphohydrolases. The modifications obtained on ATPases and p-nitrophenylphosphatases will be reported. Ten Wistar rats of 100-120 g were injected i.p. with a lethal dose of Metrazol (150 mg/kg) in saline. At the time of convulsions, which took place usually between 3-5 min after injection, the rats were decapitated. Eight controls injected with saline were sacrificed at similar times. Thin slices of the parietal cerebral cortex were fixed in a mixture of glutaraldehyde and paraformaldehyde, then ´refixed´ in osmium tetroxide in phosphate buffer pH 7.4 and embedded in Epon 812. Thin sections, stained with uranyl acetate and lead citrate, were observed with an Elmiskop I electron microscope.