A new approach for early assessment of the epileptogenic potential of quinolones.

The epileptogenic potential of pefloxacin and norfloxacin, two quinolone antibiotics, was investigated in vivo in three different animal species by measuring drug concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which is part of the biophase, at the onset of convulsions. Interestingly, the pefloxacin-to-norfloxacin concentration ratios in CSF were virtually constant across the species (7.0, 6.6, and 6.0 in mice, rats, and rabbits, respectively), suggesting that this approach could be used to predict the relative epileptogenic potential of quinolones in humans.