Effect of diazepam and medazepam on pentylenetetrazol kindling in albino rats

Experiments on male albino rats were carried out in order to study the effects of diazepam and medazepam on the clonic-tonic convulsions in kindling phenomena evoked by multiple injections of a subconvulsive dose (40 mg/kg) pentylenetetrazol (PTZ). In the two doses used, both diazepam (0.25 and 1.0 mg/kg) and medazepam (2.0 and 5.0 mg/kg) manifest a marked anticonvulsive effect on the clonic-tonic convulsions in PTZ-kindled rats, with a marked dose-effect dependence. The evidence in the literature that the hippocampus plays the role of a pathologically determining structure in the realization of the PTZ kindling and that neurotransmission in the inhibitory synapses in the hippocampus is achieved by gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), gives grounds to accept that the anticonvulsive effects of diazepam and medazepam, observed in PTZ kindling, occur through GABA-ergic mechanisms, because the facilitating effect of benzodiazepines on the GABA-ergic neurotransmission is well known.