ScienceDaily (Apr. 4, 2008) — Current medications for seizures are comparable to over-the-counter cold and flu remedies: They block symptoms, but don't significantly affect the underlying illnesses that cause them.

Now scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have taken the first step toward developing another option. They've used a drug to prevent the brain abnormalities that lead to seizures in mice with an inherited form of epilepsy.

Working in a mouse model of tuberous sclerosis, an inherited human condition that causes seizures, researchers showed that regular doses of the drug rapamycin prevented the mice from seizing. The treatment also blocked the development of structural abnormalities in the brain and extended lifespan.

"One percent of the general population has epilepsy, and one-third of those patients don't respond well to current treatments," says senior author Michael Wong, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of neurobiology and anatomy, of neurology and of pediatrics. "We need to look for new treatments that do more than just alleviate the symptoms. We have to find ways to prevent the underlying brain abnormalitites that lead to seizures, and this is a first step in that direction."

Epilepsy can be induced by dozens of different causes including various forms of brain injury, genetic mutations and exposure to environmental insults.

Tuberous sclerosis (TS) is one of the most common genetic causes of epilepsy. Epidemiologists estimate that it occurs in one birth in every 6,000. In addition to seizures, the condition may cause tumors in the brain and other organs, autism, learning disabilities, skin abnormalities and lung and kidney disease.


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