Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0014547 (focal epilepsy)
 1,627 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The nootropic drug piracetam was investigated in various experimental models of epilepsy. Generally, piracetam exhibits no or only moderate anticonvulsant properties against generalized tonic or clonic seizures. However, in many cases it did increase the anticonvulsant effectiveness of conventional antiepileptics, as shown in the maximal electroshock seizure (MES) threshold test, the traditional MES test or in DBA/2 mice. A pharmacokinetic interaction does not seem to be responsible for this effect. In lethargic mice, a model of absence seizures, piracetam significantly decreased the incidence and duration of spike-wave discharges. Furthermore, in the cobalt-induced focal epilepsy model piracetam reduced the number of spikes/min and in the hippocampal stimulation model it increased the anticonvulsant potency of phenobarbital and phenytoin after single and repeated administration. In conclusion, the well tolerated piracetam itself did not show marked anticonvulsant effects in most screening tests, however, its co-medication with antiepileptic drugs improved seizure protection in various models which may bear potential clinical significance.
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PMID:Effects of piracetam alone and in combination with antiepileptic drugs in rodent seizure models. 1533 29

In the course of experiments on focal epilepsy in rats, we have recognized that there are no adequate models of subacute focal epilepsy in rodents. We have, therefore, reevaluated a previously described rat model that reliably generates subacute seizures over 2-3 weeks. After implantation of a short length of cobalt wire into the left motor cortex, the animals are monitored by standard EEG over the next 3 weeks. They develop three seizure types: 1. Simple partial seizures with contralateral clonic jerks, lasting 17.9 +/- 46.4 min; these seizures were characterized by repetitive single spikes; 2. Secondarily generalized seizures, lasting 34.5 +/- 19.0 s; and 3. Complex partial seizures with a paroxysmal EEG, lasting 39.6 +/- 55.5 s. Post mortem brains were imaged using standard magnetic resonance techniques, after removal of the ferromagnetic cobalt wire. There was a localized loss of the MR signal that differed by pulse sequence, indicating spread of the ferromagnetic cobalt into the brain tissue. The image disruption caused by the cobalt was quite abrupt, indicating a sharp cobalt concentration gradient. However, we saw no evidence of widespread cerebral injury. The unilateral cobalt wire model generates less frequent, but more persistent seizures than seen in most acute, focal models. The ferromagnetic signal present, even after wire removal, indicates that metallic cobalt leaches into the cortex and may be responsible for generating the seizures. This model should be useful for testing new therapies for neocortical epilepsy.
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PMID:The unilateral cobalt wire model of neocortical epilepsy: a method of producing subacute focal seizures in rodents. 1545 Oct 16

A model is a simplified preparation that reproduces only the most critical features of a disease. To be considered as a validated animal model, such an experimental preparation must fulfill three criteria: isomorphism or similarities of the symptoms; predictivity or identical pharmacological reactivity; homology or etiological similarity. In epilepsy, the use of animal models helps our understanding of physiological and pathological networks involved in the genesis, maintenance, and propagation of seizures. The animal models of epilepsy are also useful in designing and testing new surgical therapeutical strategies, in particular using deconnection or neuromodulation in drug-resistant focal epilepsies. Here we describe three animal models of focal epilepsy, adapted to addressing experimental surgery issues. Kindling consists in the regular liminar stimulation of a given brain structure in the rodent to develop a focal discharge that is secondarily generalized. The local application of epileptogenic agents such as cobalt, iron, or penicillin leads to focal discharges that do not generalize in the rodent or the primate. It is a model of focal neocortical epilepsy without secondary generalization. The focal application of kainate, an excitotoxic glutamate agonist, in the dorsal hippocampus of the adult mouse results, after a latent period, in spontaneous and recurrent focal discharges, behavioral interictal troubles, drug resistance, and histological anomalies reminiscent of hippocampal sclerosis. This constitutes a model of mesial-temporal epilepsy. Better knowledge, in these models, of the neural networks generating, propagating, and/or controlling the seizures should make it possible to design innovative surgical approaches for the treatment of drug-resistant epilepsies.
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PMID:[Animal models to develop surgery of focal epilepsies?]. 1841 67


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