A New Frontier in Epilepsy: Novel Antiepileptogenic Drugs

Abstract

Abstract. Epilepsy is a hetergenous syndrome characterized by recurrently and repeatedly occurring seizures. Although able to inhibit the epileptic seizures, the currently available antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) have no effects on epileptogenesis. Such AEDs should be classified as drugs against ictogenesis, which are transient events in ion and / or receptor-gated channels related with triggering to evoke seizures. Epileptogenesis involves long-term and histological / biochemical/ physiological alterations formed in brain structures over a long period, ranging from months to years. This review focuses on the effects of AEDs on epileptogenesis and novel candidates of antiepileptogenic drugs using a genetically defined epilepsy model animal, the spontaneous epileptic rat (SER).

Effect of low frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on kindling-induced changes in electrophysiological properties of rat CA1 pyramidal neurons

“…About one-third of patients with TLE are pharmacoresistant and do not respond to current treatments (Sasa, 2006).Therefore, much effort has been put towards finding new treatments for drug resistant epilepsy. Such efforts have led to development of the repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) as an alternative therapy for pharmacoresistant epileptic patients (Kimiskidis, 2010).…”

One‐Pot Conversion of L‐Threonine into L‐Homoalanine: Biocatalytic Production of an Unnatural Amino Acid from a Natural One

“…l-1 serves as a key intermediate for the production of the antituberculosis drug ethambutol [19] and the antiepileptic drug levetiracetam. [20] In this study, the production process consists of two enzymatic reactions as shown in Scheme 1: conversion of lthreonine (l-2) to 2-oxobutyrate (3a) by a threonine deaminase (TD) and asymmetric transfer of an amino group from benzylamine (4a) to 3a by an (S)-enantioselective w-TA. The net reaction employs l-2 and 4a as substrates, yielding ammonia, benzaldehyde (3b) and l-1.…”

Antiepileptic effects of two Rho‐kinase inhibitors, Y‐27632 and fasudil, in mice

“…However, 20–30% of the patients are refractory to therapies using currently available antiepileptic drugs ( Provini et al , 1999 ; Patsalos, 2000 ; Jiang et al , 2007 ). Epileptogenesis involves histological, biochemical and physiological alterations that, over time, alter the balance between excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmission in multiple brain structures ( Sasa, 2006 ). The excessive enhancement of excitatory neurotransmission and/or the reduction of inhibitory pathways, as well as the regulation of some signal transductions may cause seizures ( Gale, 1993 ; Tsuda et al , 1997 ; Zilles et al , 1999 ).…”