The rate of entry of common antiepileptic drugs and some active metabolites into cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was studied in anesthetized dogs from which blood and CSF samples were withdrawn at short intervals. Diazepam, its active metabolites desmethyldiazepam and oxazepam, clonazepam, and ethosuximide entered the CSF very rapidly with mean half-times to equilibrium between 3 and 7 min. Valproic acid, phenytoin, phenobarbital, and carbamazepine went in more slowly, but mean penetration half-times were still only 12-18 min. Primidone, its metabolite phenylethylmalondiamide , and the active metabolite of carbamazepine, i.e., carbamazepine-10,11-epoxide, passed into CSF considerably slower, with half-times of 40-50 min. In order to evaluate to what extent physicochemical properties determine the penetration rates of antiepileptic drugs into the CSF, three factors were examined: the degree of ionization of the respective drugs at physiologic pH, the plasma protein binding, and the lipid-solubility, measured by organic solvent/buffer distribution ratios. Ionization was not considered as a rate-limiting factor, because all compounds except valproic acid were highly non-ionized at pH 7.4. No correlation was found between penetration rates and plasma protein binding, but at equilibrium, the ratio between CSF and total plasma concentrations was almost equal to the free fraction of drug in plasma. A significant correlation was found between penetration rate and the benzene/buffer distribution ratio of antiepileptic drugs, which indicates that the lipid-solubility, rather than the protein binding or the degree of ionization, plays the major role in determining the differences in rate of entry of these drugs.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)