Electroencephalographic and Behavioral Studies of Monomethyl Hydrazine Toxicity in the Cat

Abstract

The toxicity of monomethyl hydrazine (MMH) administered intraperitoneally in the cat was studied by reference to behavioral and neurophysiological indices. The acute lethal toxicity value (LD 50) for MMH was established at 15 mg=kg, and the convulsive toxicity value (CD 50) at 7 m=kg. Doses of 18, 9, and 5 mg=kg were then studied systematically in an effort to classify lethal, convulsive, and subconvulsive symptoms. For these doses, a preconvulsive syndrome was described involving recurrent and sustained symptoms, including vomiting, panting, rapid respiration, viscous salivation, hyperactivity, and subcortical seizure activity. The onset latency of these symptoms was directly related to dose. Several lines of evidence suggested at least a partial independence between biochemical and neurophysiological events responsible, on one hand, for convulsions and, on the other, for this preconvulsive syndrome. Convulsions were specifically delayed or prevented in animals trained to suppress movement through the use of a special EEG conditioning technique.

Neurofeedback for Insomnia: A Pilot Study of Z-Score SMR and Individualized Protocols

“…In his 1960s studies on cats, Sterman demonstrated that not only did NFB over the sensorimotor cortex (SMR) help cats sleep better, it also offered them sustained protection against developing future epilepsy (Sterman and Clemente 1962;Sterman et al 1970Sterman et al , 2010, originally written in 1969 as a NASA technical report). The latter benefit, as a potential treatment for epilepsy, became the focus of most subsequent research on SMR NFB during the next decade.…”

Neurofeedback, Self-Regulation, and Brain Imaging: Clinical Science and Fad in the Service of Mental Disorders

“…The authors identified this neural signature as a hallmark of attentive immobile states and coined the term sensorimotor rhythm (SMR) to describe this pattern of activity [43]. Shortly thereafter, this research group reported that the cats who had undergone SMR training expressed delayed seizure onset when administered an epileptogenic compound [44]. SMR training soon expanded to human epileptics [45] and ADHD patients [46], both of whom demonstrated clinical improvements.…”

Neurofeedback learning modifies the incidence rate of alpha spindles, but not their duration and amplitude

“…Additionally, the animals learned to produce the SMR even without any stimulus if food reinforcement was given each time they spontaneously entered the SMR state 4 . The same cats that underwent neurofeedback training were later used in an epilepsy study, and it was unexpectedly found that they were significantly less prone to seizures evoked by the epileptogenic fuel component than the cats that did not have the SMR training 5 . Thus, these experiments of Sterman and his colleagues revealed a potential of neurofeedback as a treatment for epilepsy 6 – 8 .…”