Closing In on Drug That Prevents Epilepsy?
This is the Medscape Neurology Minute. I am Dr. Alan Jacobs.
Status epilepticus is often followed by a period of seizure-free recovery before people start to experience recurring temporal lobe seizures. Previous research has identified a receptor in the nervous system called TrkB as a key player in transforming the brain from normal to epileptic. Now, researchers from Duke University have published a study confirming TrkB as an important status epilepticus inducer in epilepsy.
The researchers studied normal and transgenic mice that were unique in that a drug, 1NMMPP1, inhibited TrkB in their brains. At baseline, status epilepticus in both the normal and transgenic mice was shown to cause epilepsy. Treatment with 1NMMPP1 after a prolonged period of seizures prevented epilepsy in the transgenic mice but not in the normal mice. Of note, the researchers administered treatment with 1NMMPP1 for 2 weeks, and that was sufficient to prevent epilepsy from developing in the mice when tested many weeks later. The investigators concluded that their results provide a strong rationale for the development of selective inhibitors of TrkB signaling as a molecular target for the first drugs to prevent epilepsy.
This has been the Medscape Neurology Minute. I'm Dr. Alan Jacobs.
This is the Medscape Neurology Minute. I am Dr. Alan Jacobs.
Status epilepticus is often followed by a period of seizure-free recovery before people start to experience recurring temporal lobe seizures. Previous research has identified a receptor in the nervous system called TrkB as a key player in transforming the brain from normal to epileptic. Now, researchers from Duke University have published a study confirming TrkB as an important status epilepticus inducer in epilepsy.
The researchers studied normal and transgenic mice that were unique in that a drug, 1NMMPP1, inhibited TrkB in their brains. At baseline, status epilepticus in both the normal and transgenic mice was shown to cause epilepsy. Treatment with 1NMMPP1 after a prolonged period of seizures prevented epilepsy in the transgenic mice but not in the normal mice. Of note, the researchers administered treatment with 1NMMPP1 for 2 weeks, and that was sufficient to prevent epilepsy from developing in the mice when tested many weeks later. The investigators concluded that their results provide a strong rationale for the development of selective inhibitors of TrkB signaling as a molecular target for the first drugs to prevent epilepsy.
This has been the Medscape Neurology Minute. I'm Dr. Alan Jacobs.
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