Abstract
In a previous study on the antagonistic action between pitressin and desoxycorticosterone acetate in epileptic subjects, the authors 1 found the latter substance to have a striking anti-convulsive effect for both spontaneously occurring and pitressin-induced seizures. The principal experimental subject involved- in that investigation, a young man with extremely severe epilepsy, has remained essentially free from convulsive attacks during the intervening 3 years while continuing to receive this synthetic hormone sublingually or by subcutaneous pellet implantation. The present experimental study was undertaken with the hope of obtaining some information regarding the physiological or pharmacological mechanism responsible for this effect.
Our immediate objective was to determine the effects of the hormone on the water and electrolyte content of the brain tissue of normal animals. It has been abundantly demonstrated by Darrow and Miller 2 , 3 , and by Ferrebee and co-workers 4 that the potassium content of skeletal muscle, as well as that of blood plasma, is greatly reduced and the sodium content is somewhat increased by daily injections of comparatively large doses of desoxycorticosterone acetate. Heart muscle and liver showed much less, or (in some animals) no alteration. 3 Data regarding the brain were not reported by these authors. In the present study, changes in skeletal muscle, liver and heart muscle were determined for the purpose of comparison.
Eighty young hooded rats (initial weights, 150 to 200 g each) maintained continuously from the time of weaning and throughout the experiments on a standard rat diet containing 0.605 g of K, 0.565 g of Na, and 1.155 g of CI per 100 g, were divided into two equal groups.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.