Lesions of the olfactory bulbs in rats have previously been shown to effect various kinds of seizures and have been used as an animal model for depression. The present project examined the effects of olfactory bulb lesions on seizure threshold of cocaine, lidocaine, metrazol and vohimbine. Results demonstrated that the lesions increased the seizure threshold of cocaine and lidocaine by 50% while increasing metrazol's threshold by 25%. In contrast, the seizure threshold for the alpha-2 antagonist yohimbine was unaffected by olfactory bulb lesions. These data suggest that the anticonvulsive effects of olfactory bulb lesions are not due to global anticonvulsant properties of the lesions, but are specific to the drugs used to induce convulsions.
