Life Sciences Vol . 7, Part I, pp . 1037-1039, 1988 . Printed in Great Britain .
Pergamon Press
FURTAER STUDIES OF PfK)TIC STIMULATION IN SUH-HUMAN PRIMATES* L.G. Stark, R.M . Joy, A.J. H~nce
and K.F . Killam
Department of Pharmacology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford Medical Center Palo Alto, California 94304
(Received 23 February 1968; in final form 3 July 1988) Following the finding of a photomyoclonic syndrome in the baboon (2), Papio papio, a systematic study of that syndrome has been undertaken (3) and a comprehensive survey of the proclivity of the phenc®enon in primates is underway ( 1 , 4,
5, 6) .
This paper is part of the latter and of necessity could be
carried out only when animals became available. METHODS Five species of subhuman primates were tested for pbsaible paroxysmal activity elicited by flashing light .
The subjects included 6 THEROPIT~CUS
gelada (weight range 8 .6 to 13 .0 kgm), 12 ERYTHROCEBUS pates (weight range 5 .0 to 10 .5 kgm), 12 CERCOPITHECUS aethiopa sabeus (weight range 3 .2_to 6.7 kgm), 10 MACACA speciosa (weight range 4.8 to 8.0 kgm) and 7 HYLOBATES lars (weight range 4.2 to 6 .5 kgm) .
All animals were in excellent physical condition and
free from experimental procedures that voald interfere with testing procedures . The origins of the animals were Th . gelada, Ethiopia ; E. pates and C. a. sabeus, Kenya; and M. apeciosa and H. lars, Thailand .
All animals had been
through quarantine and normative stabilization procedures . The animals were brought to the recording room and placed in pillorytype restraining chairs .
Intradermal recording electrodes were affixed to the
scalp and connected to a Beckman Offner Model R electroencephalograph. source of light atimu_lation was a Grew DS-2 photo stimulator . The method of testing has been described previously (1, 3) . *Supported by NIH Grants MH03241 and GM322 .
1037
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RESIILTS In moat animals some semblance of photic driving could be recorded from occipital derivations . the E . pates .
Evoked responses were seen in other derivations from
However, recordings taken from intredermal leads are known to
be subject to muscle artifacts . facts in these experiments .
It was not possible to eliminate such arti-
Therefore, EEG tracings were never the sole
criterion for the appearance of paroxysmal activity . IInequivocal paroxysmal activity was seen in only two animals .
In one
female M. apeciosa (5 .9 kgm) i-solated, generalised jerks of the body followed by clonus of the eyes and lids were observed . sustained .
The pattern, however, wen not
In one female Hylobatea (6 .1 kgm) a brief episode of clonus of the
eyes and lids spreading to the facial musculature was observed . was not sustained .
Again, this
No other signs of paroxysmal activity were found . DISCIISSION
Following the observations that the baboon, Papio papio, exhibited paroxysmal EEG and motor activity in response to fleshing light (2) a number of species of subhuman primates have been evaluated .
To date the Papio papio is
the only species with a high percentage (65-75~) of animals ezhibiting a photomyoclonic syndrome (1, !,) . Papio cynocepholus (1),
Other species tested included Papio eaubis (1 ),
Pan (chimpanzee)
Africa, Cerocopithecus aethiope sabeus (6) .
(5), Erythrocebue pates (Q) from West
(4) from Weat Africa, and Macaca rhesus
This study extends the spectrum to primates originating in Eeat Africa
and 9s is . From a comparative point of view, the establishment of the uniqueness of the syndrome of the Papio papio among subhuman primates is of great importance . Prior to the initiation of these researches, the epileptiform syndrome was considered by matte to be unique to man.
This is not to say that the eudio-
genic seizure syndrome seen in mutants of mice, rat and rabbits is not relevant, but there have been found to be marry differences between human epilepsy and the
Vol. 7, No. 19
PHOTIC STIMULATION
1039
audiogenic aeisure syndrome . Speculations as to the underlying mechanism is the Papio papio at this point in time would appear to be premature .
Certainly further work to eztend
the survey to other primates would be in order. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors wish to thank Dra . A. J. Riopelle and C . W. Hill and their staff for the help in making this study possible at the Delta Primate Center, Covington, Louisiana. REFERENCES
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E . K. KILLAM, L. G. STARK and K. F . KILLAM, Life Sci .
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K. F. KILLAM, E. K. RILLAM and R. NAQÜET, Campt . rend . Acad . Sci. (Paris)
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K. F. KILLAM, E. K. KILLAM, and R. NAgIIET,
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K. F. KILLAM, R . NAQUET and J. BERT, Epilepsie,
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R. NAQIIET, K. F. RILLAM sad J. M. RHODES, Life Sci.
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J. M. RHODES, J . BERT and G. V. PEGRAM (in preparation) .
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