| Abstract: | The effect of diazepam on paroxysmal global electrical activity of a neuronally isolated slab of auditory cortex and on inhibitory responses of its neurons due to intracortical electrical stimulation was investigated in cats. Diazepam (2 mg/kg, intravenously) caused inhibition of paroxysmal electrical activity and increased the number of inhibited neurons in both the acutely isolated slab and three weeks after isolation, compared with the intact cortex. However, the number of disynaptic responses was reduced under these circumstances, especially in the long-isolated slab. It is postulated that diazepam exerts its action through activation of GABA-ergic inhibitory neurons, by synchronizing inhibition and increasing the duration of the IPSPs. The action of diazepam is manifested first, probably, in the initial links of cortical neuron chains.I. I. Mechnikov Odessa State University. Translated from Neirofiziologiya, Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 3–10, January–February, 1985. |
