ABSTRACT
Convulsant drugs have been widely utilized to study epilepsy for over 100 years. Systemic administration of many of these convulsant agents, such as pentylenetetrazol and bicuculline, results in generalized electrographic seizures that appear to begin in a wide variety of brain structures simultaneously. Other convulsant drugs induce focal-onset seizures in the limbic system, such as pilocarpine, or in the spinal cord, such as strychnine. The convulsant-induced seizure types include seizures with a focal onset in structures of the limbic system and seizures with a generalized onset that begin simultaneously in widely distributed brain regions, with no evidence of focal onset. The generalized-onset type will be subdivided into “spontaneous” convulsant-induced generalized-onset seizures, which are those that occur in the absence of intentional stimulation. The Substantia Nigra has received considerable attention with respect to modulation of seizures induced by electroshock and kindling, but the role of this structure in seizures induced by convulsant drugs is more controversial.
