WATER INTOXICATION AND THE ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAM
- 1 July 1946
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physiological Society in American Journal of Physiology-Legacy Content
- Vol. 146 (4), 559-566
- https://doi.org/10.1152/ajplegacy.1946.146.4.559
Abstract
Intraperit. injn. of 5% water at intervals of 30 mins. leads to acute water intoxication in rats which is characterized by the following changes in the electroencephalogram. Slow waves of a frequency of 1-3/sec. and of an amplitude of 100 to 300 microvolts appear singly or in groups to an increasing degree with progressing water intoxication. If the condition is fatal these waves gradually decline in amplitude and the animals die. in deep coma with little or no cortical potentials present. Under reversible conditions the slow waves appear for increasingly briefer periods of time and are replaced by the more frequent small potentials which characterize the E.E.G. of the normal rat. Convulsive potentials appear either as single or multiple spikes or in combination with slow waves similar to the pattern described by Gibbs as petit mal and "petit mal variant" respectively. They may occur as larval discharges or may accompany convulsions. The various types of convulsive and slow potentials may occur in the same animal at different stages of water intoxication. In general, slow potentials precede convulsive spikes in time. In animals treated with desoxycorticosterone the E.E.G. changes consist largely of slow waves. It is suggested on the basis of these findings that the different forms of the E.E.G. observed in petit mal, grand mal, and psychomotor seizures are due to the same basic disturbances in brain function, since similar changes in the E.E.G. may be induced by the clearly defined exptl. condition of water intoxication. Water intoxication is accompanied by a reversible decrease in heart rate. The changes in E.E.G. and heart rate are not due to a fall in temp. since the latter was prevented by the application of external heat.Keywords
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