Although animal models, such as electroshock seizures, pentylenetetrazol (PTZ)-induced seizures and the rotorod test, are widely employed in the search for and evaluation of new anticonvulsant drugs, the important role of diverse technical, biological and pharmacological factors in the interpretation of results obtained with these models is often not recognized. In order to delineate factors other than strain, sex, age, diet, climate, and circadian rhythms, which are generally known, a series of studies was undertaken. In the experiments described here, the influence of administration vehicles and drug formulations on bioavailability, potency and time course of anticonvulsant drugs was studied in mice. Two standard anticonvulsant drugs, primidone and carbamazepine, with poor aqueous solubility were used for these experiments, because water insolubility is a common problem in the laboratory evaluation of anticonvulsant agents. Since vehicles, especially organic solvents or detergents, may exert effects of their own, sensitive electroshock and PTZ seizure threshold tests were used for the assessment of vehicle-related actions. Of various aqueous or lipophilic vehicles tested, only glycofurol increased seizure thresholds, when concentrations exceeding 10% were administered. However, even at a concentration of 30%, the solubilizer did not exert measurable effects in the maximal electroshock seizure (MES) test in mice, but markedly potentiated the effect of primidone. In contrast, polyethylene glycol 400 (PEG 400) up to a concentration of 30% did not affect electrical or chemical seizure thresholds nor did it alter the pharmacological potency of primidone. When primidone or carbamazepine were administered as a suspension in a Tween/water vehicle, their anticonvulsant effects were considerably lower compared to injections of the same doses as a solution. Plasma level determinations indicated that drug absorption after injections of suspensions was reduced compared to drug solutions. Furthermore, administration of high doses, which could not dissolve any further in lipophilic vehicles, such as 30% PEG 400, and thus had to be injected as suspensions, resulted in concentrations which were no longer proportional to the dose. Therefore, at least in the case of limited drug solubility in administration vehicles, the bioavailability of the drug might be negatively correlated with the dose, which may lead to false conclusions with respect to dose responses and margins of safety. False conclusions from such data can, therefore, only be circumvented by plasma or brain drug level determinations. © 1990.
