Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0036572 (seizures)
 80,221 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

ACTH, a member of the melanocortin family of peptides, is often used in the treatment of the developmental epileptic encephalopathy spectrum disorders including, Ohtahara, West, Lennox Gastaut and Landau-Kleffner Syndromes and electrical status epilepticus of sleep. In these disorders, although ACTH is often successful in controlling the seizures and/or inter-ictal EEG abnormalities, it is unknown whether ACTH possesses other beneficial effects independent of seizure control. We tested whether ACTH can ameliorate the intrinsic impairment of hippocampal-based learning and memory in epileptic Kcna1-null (KO) mice. We found that ACTH - administered in the form of Acthar Gel given i.p. four times daily at a dose of 4 IU/kg (16 IU/kg/day) for 7days - prevented impairment of long-term potentiation (LTP) evoked with high-frequency stimulation in CA1 hippocampus and also restored spatial learning and memory on the Barnes maze test. However, with this treatment regimen, ACTH did not exert a significant effect on the frequency of spontaneous recurrent seizures. Together, our findings indicate that ACTH can ameliorate memory impairment in epileptic Kcna1-null mice separate from seizure control, and suggest that this widely used peptide may exert direct nootropic effects in the epileptic brain.
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PMID:Adrenocorticotropic hormone protects learning and memory function in epileptic Kcna1-null mice. 2824 86