Cholinergic system disturbance in the West syndrome

The effects of drug on the cholinergic system (atropine and physostigmine) were evaluated in acute tests in 12 infant patients with the West syndrome (WS) and in 12 older ones who had suffered from WS at typical ages, displaying various types of epileptic symptoms. In both groups paroxysmal EEG activity was inhibited by physostigmine and enhanced by atropine. In two infants who had frequent clinical seizures, the seizures were temporarily blocked by physostigmine. These effects in WS are different from those reported in some other experimental and clinical epilepsies, where physostigmine has a proepileptic and atropine often an antiepileptic effect, thus indicating that a cholinergic system disturbance may occur in patients with WS.