EFFECTS OF EPINEPHRINE AND NOREPINEPHRINE ON ELECTRICALLY INDUCED SEIZURES’

rfhe electrocortical effects which follow the intravenous administration of epinephrine are unimpressive. Gibbs, Gibbs and Lennox (1937) observed no change in the EEG of normal subjects following the intravenous administration of 0.5 to 0.8 mgm. of epinephrine. Later Gibbs and Maitby (1943) using a fre-quency analyzer, showed an alteration in the frequency spectrum resembling that following the change from rest to attention. Jasper and Erickson (1941) ob-served in cats that although epinephrine produced either no perceptible change or a slight increase in the electrical activity of the cerebral cortex, it commonly caused an increase in the cortical blood flow followed by an increase in the pH of the cortex. Indirect central stimulatory actions of epinephrine have been observed on chemically and electrically induced convulsions. Notkin and Pike (1931) found that the intravenous administration of about 0.5 mgm./kgm. of epinephrine increased the severity of absinthe fits in cats. Similar effects in rabbits were re-ported by Keith (1933) who showed that the convulsions caused by thujone,