6 research outputs found
Is Levetiracetam Different from Other Antiepileptic Drugs? Levetiracetam and its Cellular Mechanism of Action in Epilepsy Revisited
Levetiracetam (LEV) is a new antiepileptic drug that is clinically effective in
generalized and partial epilepsy syndromes as sole or add-on medication.
Nevertheless, its underlying mechanism of action is poorly understood. It has a
unique preclinical profile; unlike other antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), it
modulates seizure-activity in animal models of chronic epilepsy with no effect
in most animal models of acute seizures. Yet it is effective in acute in-vitro
âseizureâ models. A possible explanation for these
dichotomous findings is that LEV has different mechanisms of actions, whether
given acutely or chronically and in âepilepticâ and
control tissue. Here we review the general mechanism of action of AEDs, give an
updated and critical overview about the experimental findings of
LEV's cellular targets (in particular the synaptic vesicular protein
SV2A) and ask whether LEV represents a new class of AED