Increased susceptibility of audiogenic rats to barbital withdrawal convulsions

Non-responsive progeny from Sprague-Dawley derived rats genetically susceptible to sound-induced (audiogenic) convulsions (AGS-negative) and non-responsive progeny from Sprague-Dawley derived rats not gentically susceptible to audiogenic convulsions (SD-negative) were subjected to a seven-day treatment regimen of sodium barbital. 125 mg/kg, every 12 hours. This represents a lower dose and shorter treatment period than that normally used in this laboratory to induce barbiturate dependence in rats. Animals were subjected to a 115 dB sound stimulus 38 hours following the last dose of sodium barbital. SD-negative rats did not become susceptible to sound-induced convulsions, but AGS-negative rats did experience convulsions when exposed to the sound stimulus during withdrawal. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that rats generally referred to as "audiogenic" may actually suffer from differences which result in an increase of susceptibility to seizures induced by any of several means.