Medical Neurobiology Commons^™

The Neurobiology Of Antiepileptic Drugs For The Treatment Of Nonepileptic Conditions, Michael A. Rogawski, Wolfgang Löscher

Michael A. Rogawski

Antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) are commonly prescribed for nonepileptic conditions, including migraine headache, chronicneuropathic pain, mood disorders, schizophrenia and various neuromuscular syndromes. In many of these conditions, as in epilepsy, the drugs act by modifying the excitability of nerve (or muscle) through effects on voltage-gated sodium and calciumchannels or by promoting inhibition mediated by γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) A receptors. In neuropathic pain, chronic nerveinjury is associated with the redistribution and altered subunit compositions of sodium and calcium channels that predisposeneurons in sensory pathways to fire spontaneously or at inappropriately high frequencies, often from ectopic sites. AEDs maycounteract this abnormal activity by …