The effect of propranolol on the electroencephalogram in normal and ethanol dependent rats

Electroencephalograms were recorded from scalp electrodes placed over the cerebral hemispheres of rats withdrawing from ethanol. The purpose was to investigate whether administration of the beta-adrenergic receptor blocker propranolol changed the EEG during that condition. The animals were artificially ventilated with an air mixture of 70% N2O:30% O2 and PaO2 PaCO2 and mean arterial blood pressure were kept constant. There were no significant differences in EEG frequencies or amplitudes between abstinent animals and controls neither before nor 20 min. after intravenous administration of propranolol 2 mg/kg body weight. Similarly, there was no EEG changes during 3 min. of photic stimulation. It has been reported that electrophysiological abnormalities during physical ethanol dependence are generated in subcortical brain structures but the 4 day intoxication period used in the present study seems too short to involve the cerebral cortex.