Levetiracetam attenuates spontaneous spike-and-wave discharges in DBA/2J mice

MARROSU, FRANCESCO;Bortolato M;FRAU, ROBERTO;Orru M;PULIGHEDDU, MONICA MARIA FRANCESCA;FA', MAURO;Muroni A;Tuveri A;Mereu G.

2007-01-01

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Abstract

Recent evidence highlights levetiracetam (LEV) as an advantageous treatment of absence epilepsy (AE). Thus, we investigated the effects of this drug in DBA/2J mice, a murine model of AE. Similarly to ethosuximide (200 mg/kg, intraperitoneal, i.p.) and sodium valproate (250 mg/kg, i.p.), two classic antiabsence agents, LEV (50-200 mg/kg, i.p.) reduced the occurrence of spike-and-wave discharges, AE's typical electroencephalographic patterns. Our results confirm LEV's efficacy in AE treatment. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.