CONVULSIONS AND DEATH INDUCED IN RATS BY TWEEN-80 ARE PREVENTED BY CAPSAICIN

Two or three minutes after intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) injection of Tween 80 plus ethanol as vehicles for capsaicin, strong convulsive movements occurred in the treated rats; they twisted and turned, dashe d themselves against their cage and ail died. Tween 80 in saline witho ut ethanol also produced convulsions and death in all the rats treated . Capsaicin dissolved in the vehicle seemed to furnish protection agai nst such death. Moreover, when capsaicin in Tween 80 was administered i.c.v. 10min before the Tween vehicle it prevented the death which wou ld have been caused by the i.c.v. vehicle. Thus a new effect is added to those already discovered in the numerous pharmacological studies on capsaicin.