Search results for "Convulsants"
showing 10 items of 125 documents
The NMDA receptor complex: a promising target for novel antiepileptic strategies.
2001
Antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) cover a broad spectrum of pathological conditions ranging from seizures following congenital or acquired brain disorders to behavioural and psychiatric disorders and recently neuropathic pain. The need for novel antiepileptics raises from the expanding field of indications as well as from the fact, that special seizure types are refractory to common AEDs. In addition, many of the conventional antiepileptic drugs exhibit an unfavourable side-effect profile. Since there is growing evidence, that NMDA receptor activation might play a crucial role in epilepsy, NMDA receptor antagonists have become compounds of interest in preventing and treating seizures. This review …
Action of anticonvulsants on hippocampal slices in Mg-free medium
1989
The effects of six prototype anticonvulsant drugs were investigated on epileptiform field potential discharges evoked in hippocampal slices of rats by removing magnesium ions from the perfusion fluid in order to reveal a possible interaction with N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor activation. All drugs reduced the multiple discharges with the following order of potency: midazolam greater than carbamazepine = phenytoin = phenobarbital greater than ethosuximide = valproate. They had a stronger depressant effect on the later population spikes but none of them abolished the epileptiform discharge. These effects can be explained by known mechanisms of action of the anticonvulsants tested and l…
Unilateral multicystic dysplastic kidney in infants exposed to antiepileptic drugs during pregnancy
2007
Prenatal exposure to antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) increases the risk of major congenital malformations (MCM) in the fetus. AED-related abnormalities include heart and neural tube defects, cleft palate, and urogenital abnormalities. Among the various congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract (CAKUT), multicystic dysplastic kidney (MCDK) disease is one of the most severe expressions. Although prenatal ultrasound (US) examination has increased the prenatal diagnosis of MCDK, the pathogenesis is still unclear. We report on four cases of MCDK in infants of epileptic women treated with AEDs during pregnancy. From October 2003 to June 2006, we observed four infants with unilateral MCDK bo…
Lamotrigine compared to placebo and other agents with antidepressant activity in patients with unipolar and bipolar depression: a comprehensive meta-…
2016
ObjectivesTo meta-analytically summarize lamotrigine’s effectiveness and safety in unipolar and bipolar depression.MethodsWe conducted systematic PubMed and SCOPUS reviews (last search =10/01/2015) of randomized controlled trials comparing lamotrigine to placebo or other agents with antidepressant activity in unipolar or bipolar depression. We performed a random-effects meta-analysis of depression ratings, response, remission, and adverse effects calculating standardized mean difference (SMD) and risk ratio (RR) ±95% confidence intervals (CIs).ResultsEighteen studies (n=2152, duration=9.83 weeks) in patients with unipolar depression (studies=4, n=187; monotherapy vs lithium=1, augmentation …
Efficacy of levetiracetam in the treatment of drug-resistant Rett Syndrome.
2010
Rett syndrome (RTT) is a progressive neurological disorder characterized by a wide spectrum of phenotypes. Epilepsy is reported to occur in 50–90% of patients with RTT; some develop medically refractory epilepsy. The aim of this study is to investigate the efficacy of levetiracetam (LEV) in drug-resistant patients with RTT. This prospective, pragmatic, open-label study consisted of an 8-week baseline period and a 6-month evaluation period. Efficacy variable was the mean frequency of monthly seizures before, and after 3 and 6 months of treatment with LEV. Eight female patients, aged 7.5–19 years (M12.8 ± 5) entered the study. Mean age at epilepsy onset was 25.8 ± 14.1 months. All patients sh…
Symptomatic seizures in preterm newborns: A review on clinical features and prognosis
2018
Abstract Neonatal seizures are the most common neurological event in newborns, showing higher prevalence in preterm than in full-term infants. In the majority of cases they represent acute symptomatic phenomena, the main etiologies being intraventricular haemorrhage, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, central nervous system infections and transient metabolic derangements. Current definition of neonatal seizures requires detection of paroxysmal EEG-changes, and in preterm newborns the incidence of electrographic-only seizures seems to be particularly high, further stressing the crucial role of electroencephalogram monitoring in this population. Imaging work-up includes an integration of serial…
Influence of carbenoxolone on the anticonvulsant efficacy of conventional antiepileptic drugs against audiogenic seizures in DBA/2 mice
2004
Carbenoxolone, the succinyl ester of glycyrrhetinic acid, is an inhibitor of 11beta-hydroxy steroid dehydrogenase and gap junctional intercellular communication. It is currently used in clinical treatment of ulcer diseases. Systemic administration of carbenoxolone (1-40 mg/kg, intraperitoneally (i.p.)) was able to produce a dose-dependent decrease in DBA/2 audiogenic seizure severity score. Glycyrrhizin, an analogue of carbenoxolone inactive at the gap-junction level, was unable to affect audiogenic seizures at doses up to 30 mg/kg. In combination with conventional antiepileptic drugs, carbenoxolone, 0.5 mg/kg, i.p., which per se did not significantly affect the occurrence of audiogenic sei…
Antiepileptic drug use in nursing home residents: a cross-sectional, regional study.
2006
Summary The use of antiepileptic drugs (AED), their primary indication, comorbid conditions, and concomitant medications were collected from 565 nursing homes (NH) residents of six NH located around the city of Mainz, Germany representing 5.05% of all NH residents in the area. Data were collected from the electronic pharmacy files and by reviewing all available medical records. Average age was 82.2±2.4 years, 85.5% were women. Of 565 NH residents 28 (4.96%) received AED therapy, of which in 17 (63%) AED were prescribed for a seizure-related diagnosis. In 76.5% seizure types were unspecified and a distinction in focal and generalized epilepsy was made in only 23.5% of patients. Three patient…
Antagonists and agonists at the glycine site of the NMDA receptor for therapeutic interventions.
2003
For decades neuroreceptor research has focused on the development of NMDA glycine-site antagonists, after Johnson and Ascher found out in 1987 about the co-agonistic character of this achiral amino acid at the NMDA receptor. Contrary to the inhibitory glycine receptor (glycine(A)) the glycine binding site on the NMDA receptor (glycine(B)) is strychnine-insensitive. A great diversity of diseases showing a disturbed glutamate neurotransmission have been linked to the NMDA receptor. Glycine site antagonists have been investigated for acute diseases like stroke and head trauma as well as chronic ones like dementia and chronic pain.
Molecular chaperones and mirnas in epilepsy: Pathogenic implications and therapeutic prospects
2021
Epilepsy is a pathologic condition with high prevalence and devastating consequences for the patient and its entourage. Means for accurate diagnosis of type, patient monitoring for predicting seizures and follow up, and efficacious treatment are desperately needed. To improve this adverse outcome, miRNAs and the chaperone system (CS) are promising targets to understand pathogenic mechanisms and for developing theranostics applications. miRNAs implicated in conditions known or suspected to favor seizures such as neuroinflammation, to promote epileptic tolerance and neuronal survival, to regulate seizures, and others showing variations in expression levels related to seizures are promising ca…