The drug doses used fell within the anticonvulsant range in neonatal rats (Kubova and Mares, 1991; Stankova et al., 1992; Kubová and Mares, 1993). For phenobarbital, the dose selected (75mg/kg) was just below the dose (80mg/kg) that was found to provided complete protection against pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)- induced seizures (both minimal and maximal) in P7 rat pups. (Kubova and Mares, 1991). This dose of phenobarbital was in the middle of the effective dose range previously reported for induction of neuronal apoptosis (Bittigau et al., 2002 (link)). For phenytoin, the dose selected (50mg/kg) was within the range (30–60 mg/kg) that reduced the frequency of PTZ seizures in P7 rats (Stankova et al., 1992) and corresponded to the upper end of the dose range previously reported to induce neuronal apoptosis at P7 (Bittigau et al., 2002 (link)). The dose of carbamazepine used (100mg/kg) was equivalent to twice the highest dose previously shown to protect against maximal PTZ seizures in P7 rats (Kubova and Mares, 1993). Despite the fact that this is a high dose of carbamazepine, this dose previously was found not to cause significant neuronal apoptosis in P7 rat pups (Kim et al., 2007 (link)). Pups were injected (i.p.) with sodium phenobarbital in saline (75mg/kg, n=8, Sigma), phenytoin (sodium diphenylhydantoin) in alkalinized saline (pH 10, 50mg/kg, n=10, Sigma), or a suspension of carbamazepine (100mg/kg, n=6, Sigma) in saline containing 1.0% Tween 80 (Sigma). Control groups received equivalent volumes of vehicle (0.01ml/g body weight, n=11). Treatments occurred on P7, 24h before sacrifice as in prior studies (Bittigau et al., 2002 (link); Kim et al., 2007a (link), 2007b (link)).