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Febrile Seizures in Epileptic Chicks: The effects of Phenobarbital, Phenytoin and Valproate

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2015

D.D. Johnson*
Affiliation:
Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine and the Department of Animal and Poultry Science, College of Agriculture, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon
K.D.A. Crawford
Affiliation:
Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine and the Department of Animal and Poultry Science, College of Agriculture, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon
R.D. Crawford
Affiliation:
Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine and the Department of Animal and Poultry Science, College of Agriculture, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon
*
Dept. of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada S7N 0W0.
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Epileptic seizures can be evoked in chicks homozygous for the epileptic seizure gene (epi, epi) by elevating their body temperature using microwave diathermy. These seizures precede and differ in motor seizure pattern from a second clonic-tonic seizure produced by hyperthermia in both epileptic and carrier (heterozygote, Epi, epi) chicks. Hyperthermia did not evoke seizures in adult epileptic chickens. Phenobarbital delayed the onset of epileptiform seizures whereas phenytoin and valproate had no effect. These data suggest that epileptic chicks may provide a suitable model for studies on febrile convulsions.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Neurological Sciences Federation 1983

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