Single dose varenicline may trigger epileptic activity

• Published in: Neurological sciences Vol. 35; no. 11; pp. 1807 - 1812
• Main Authors: Erken, Haydar Ali, Erken, Gülten, Şimşek, Hasan, Korkut, Oğuzhan, Koç, Emine Rabia, Yavuz, Özlem, Genç, Osman
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Milan Springer Milan 01-11-2014; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animals; Benzazepines - administration & dosage; Benzazepines - toxicity; Brain - drug effects; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Electroencephalography; Epilepsy - chemically induced; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Neurology; Neuroradiology; Neurosciences; Neurosurgery; Nicotinic Agonists - administration & dosage; Nicotinic Agonists - toxicity; Original Article; Psychiatry; Quinoxalines - administration & dosage; Quinoxalines - toxicity; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Seizures - chemically induced; Varenicline; Seizure; Adverse effect; EEG; Epilepsy; Varenicline
• ISSN: 1590-1874; 1590-3478
• DOI: 10.1007/s10072-014-1845-y

Varenicline is a new drug for smoking cessation, and its effect on epilepsy is not clear. The aim of this study was to investigate whether different doses of varenicline cause epileptic activity. Forty rats were randomly assigned to the following eight groups: control, saline, and 0.025, 0.04, 0.1, 0.5, 1, and 2 mg kg
−1
varenicline (single dose, i.p.). EEGs were recorded before the varenicline injection and during the following 240 min. While epileptic discharges were observed on the EEGs of the rats in all of the varenicline-treated groups, motor findings of epileptic seizure were not observed in some rats in these groups except the 1 and 2 mg kg
−1
groups. These findings indicate that different single doses of varenicline cause epileptic activity in rats.