Effect of cocaine, lidocaine kindling and carbamazepine on batrachotoxin-induced phosphoinositide hydrolysis in rat brain slices

Repeated administration of a subconvulsant dose of a local anesthetic will eventually induce seizures, a phenomenon similar to electrical kindling. We have investigated the effect of repeated lidocaine and cocaine administration on the phosphoinositide (PI) hydrolysis induced by batrachotoxin (BTX), a specific Na channel activator. Rats were injected with cocaine or saline daily for 6 days and PI hydrolysis was assayed in sliced frontal cortex. Cocaine treatment had no effect on BTX-induced PI hydrolysis while in vitro cocaine blocked the BTX effect. In a second experiment, rats received daily injections of lidocaine or saline. After a rat developed at least two seizures, it was sacrificed together with a rat receiving lidocaine injections which had never seized and a rat receiving saline injections. Basal, BTX and ibotenic acid (IBO; a glutamate receptor agonist)-stimulated PI hydrolysis did not differ among the three groups in slices of either hippocampus (HC) or piriform cortex (PC) though IBO-stimulated PI hydrolysis was mucg greater in the HC than in the PC. Neither in vitro nor in vivo carbamazepine altered the effect of cocaine on BTX-induced PI hydrolysis. These results demonstrate that local anesthetic kindling does not alter PI hydrolysis coupled to Na channel or IBO activation.