A pharmaco-EEG study of the interaction between ethanol and retigabine in rabbits

Retigabine is a new antiepileptic drug with multiple mechanisms of action. It may well interact with ethanol, as both have an influence on GABA-ergic and glutamate neurotransmission.

To assess the effect of retigabine, administered as single or repeated doses, on ethanol-induced changes in the bioelectric activity of selected brain structures in rabbits.

30 rabbits were used to assess the effect of retigabine on ethanol-induced changes in EEGs using the pharmaco-EEG method. Retigabine was administered p.o. as a single dose (5 mg/kg or 10 mg/kg) or repeatedly at a dose of 5 mg/kg/day for 14 days. Ethanol was injected i.v. at a dose of 0.8 g/kg 60 min after the administration of retigabine.

Retigabine, administered as a single high or low dose, increased the depressive effect of an acute dose of ethanol on the bioelectric activity of the frontal cortex in rabbits. These changes were also visible in the recordings from the hippocampus and midbrain reticular formation after administration of a high dose of the drug. Retigabine administered in repeated doses decreased ethanol-induced changes in the rabbit EEG recordings from the hippocampus.

Retigabine in multiple doses decreases the sensitivity of the hippocampus to an acute dose of ethanol in rabbits. Given the role of hippocampal-related memory processes to addiction, retigabine may have therapeutic potential.