Brucine

About: Brucine is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 586 publications have been published within this topic receiving 6866 citations. The topic is also known as: 10,11-dimethoxy strychnine.

The effect of maturation on chemically-induced seizures in rats

Abstract: The convulsant and toxic effects of strychnine and brucine have been studied in rats ranging in age from 1 day to several months. Newborn rats from 1 to 4 days of age exhibit hyperkinesia but are unable to exhibit full clonic or tonic seizures when given either the convulsant or lethal doses of strychnine or brucine. Typical tonic-clonic seizures do not appear until the 12th to 16th day. The CD5O of strychnine does not vary significantly in rats from 1 to 8 days old. Beginning with the 8th day, the CD5O of strychnine increases with age. The LD5O of strychnine is highest on the 4th day and then declines until the 21st day, after which it increases with age, in parallel with the increase in CD5O. Although brucine was found to be less potent than strychnine , the changes in CD5O's and LD5O's of brucine generally parallel those of strychnine. The development of the ability to exhibit maximal tonic-clonic seizures in response to strychnine and brucine appears to be related to certain biochemical and physiological changes which occur in the CNS with age. The significance of such factors as carbonic anhydrase activity, brain GABA concentration, and maturation of blood-CNS barrier and synaptic transmission are discussed. The same factors may also modify the toxic effects of these drugs on the CNS. An explanation of some of the observed results on the assumption that strychnine penetrates the blood-CNS barrier more readily than does brucine is based upon known structural and hence physicochemical differences in the two drugs. It is suggested that strychnine and brucine can be used as tools to elucidate the development of the blood-CNS barrier.