Effects of chlorpromazine on the electroencephalogram with report of a case of chlorpromazine intoxication

Abstract

All these observations including our own show that the clinical and electroencephalographic effects of chlorpromazine are extremely complex. Chlorpromazine has: (1) an effect similar to that seen in many sedative drugs; (2) effects similar to that of Metrazol which has been shown to provoke localized spikes in patients with focal seizures (Kaufman et al. 1947) and diffuse spike and wave patterns in nonepileptic subjects (Strauss et al. 1952). The fact that the provocation of focal spikes by chlorpromazine is not associated with clinical or electroencephalographic signs of sleep makes its activating effect very similar to that of Metrazol. According to the literature, it seems to be even more promising in the provocation of focal spikes. We cannot make any statement as to the amount of chlorpromazine necessary to produce diffuse spike and wave patterns either in normals or epileptics, but can state that such patterns can be produced in normals. The question of the quantity is open for further investigation. So also is the question of the point of attack of chlorpromazine on the central nervous system, on which several assumptions have been made, none of which, however, explains all the observed facts.