Effects of ketamine on metrazol-induced seizures during ontogenesis in rats

An anticonvulsant action of ketamine, a noncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonist (1-40 mg/kg IP), on the metrazol-induced seizures was assessed in male Wistar rats aged 7, 12, 18, 25 and 90 days. Ketamine alone caused ataxia even in the lowest dose used. As concerens its interaction with metrazol it exerted a clearcut anticonvulsant effect against generalized tonic-clonic seizures at all developmental stages. On the contrary, the effects on clonic (i.e., minimal) seizures were only moderate or absent. Higher efficacy of ketamine was observed in young animals. Our results suggest a role of excitatory amino acids in the generation of generalized tonic-clonic metrazol seizures, but their share on the induction of clonic (minimal) seizures seems to be very small.