Decarboxylase Inhibitors Affect Convulsion Thresholds to Hexafluorodiethyl Ether

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Abstract
Alpha-methyl dihydroxyphenylalanine (α-MeDOPA) and alpha-methyl meta-tyrosine (α-MMT) do not lower significantly the convulsion thresholds to hexafluorodiethyl ether in the mouse, whereas reserpine and tetrabenazine produce marked lowering of these thresholds. Other workers have shown that α-MeDOPA and α-MMT decrease brain norepinephrine concentrations much more than brain 5-hydroxytryptamine concentrations, while reserpine and tetrabenazine decrease the brain level of these two amines in a parallel fashion. Thus, the fact that α-MeDOPA and α-MMT, even in very large doses, do not lower convulsion thresholds and in some cases raise them suggests that the decline in 5-hydroxytryptamine may be implicated in the lowering of convulsion thresholds produced by reserpine and other, similar agents.