Anticonvulsant drug effects on spontaneous thalamocortical rhythms in vitro: Phenytoin, carbamazepine, and phenobarbital

When perfused with a medium containing no added Mg2+, rodent thalamocortical brain slices generate spontaneous generalized thalamocortical discharges of several types. Two of these discharges, termed simple and complex thalamocortical burst complexes (sTBCs and cTBCs), are physiologically and pharmacologically similar to the spike-wave discharges of generalized absence epilepsy and to the discharges underlying generalized tonic-clonic seizures, respectively. In a further characterization of the pharmacology of generalized thalamocortical discharges recorded in rodent thalamocortical slices, the actions of anticonvulsants effective in control of partial and generalized tonic-clonic seizures, but not generalized absence seizures, were studied on these rhythms. The effects of phenytoin, carbamazepine, and phenobarbital were tested against sTBCs and cTBCs recorded in vitro in rodent thalamocortical slices. When applied in clinically relevant concentrations, phenytoin and carbamazepine were very effective in reducing or blocking cTBCs. These drugs were much less effective in controlling sTBCs. Phenobarbital was effective in controlling both sTBCs and cTBCs, but the level of block was greater for cTBCs. Therefore, it appears that sTBCs and cTBCs are quite distinct in their relative sensitivity to anticonvulsant drugs, and this differential sensitivity parallels the relative effectiveness of these drugs in controlling generalized absence and generalized tonic-clonic seizures.