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Irvine Mcquarrie, J. A. Anderson, M. R. Ziegler, Observations on the Antagonistic Effects of Posterior Pituitary and Cortico-Adrenal Hormones in, the Epileptic Subject, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Volume 2, Issue 6, 1 June 1942, Pages 406–410, https://doi.org/10.1210/jcem-2-6-406
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Abstract
Progress in the development of a rational method of therapy for the so called idiopathic form of epilepsy has been impeded greatly by our lack of exact knowledge concerning the nature of the peculiar physiological disturbance within the brain which is responsible for the spontaneous occurrence of generalised convulsions in afflicted persons. While gross or microscopic lesions undoubtedly occur in the cerebrum in many patients placed in this clinical category, they cannot be found in all, by any means. On the other hand, it has been observed repeatedly that not all persons exhibiting such brain lesions suffer from convulsions. Obviously, therefore, the immediate cause of the characteristic tendency to seizures should be sought in the realm of disturbances in cerebral physiology.
Recent developments in the use of the electroencephalograph (1, 2) for recording the electrical potentials of the brain (i.e., the so-called ‘brain waves’) have demonstrated beyond any question that the symptom which we recognise as an epileptic seizure is the outward manifestation of a profound disturbance in the electrical rhythm within the cerebral Cortex.
