Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh, USA, have discovered that a known drug has the potential to stop the development of epilepsy. The anticonvulsant, called paxilline, targets a specific type of ion channel called the BK channel. The BK channel allows the passage of potassium ions into and out of neurons, and is intimately involved in regulating their excitability.

The team already linked BK channels with sporadic epilepsy during a previous study, in which they found BK channel function to be markedly enhanced after a seizure. As a result of this increased activity, the neurons became overly excitable and fired with more speed, intensity and spontaneity. Based on these findings, the group concluded that the abnormal increased activity of the channels might play a role in causing subsequent seizures and the emergence of epilepsy. They also found that although BK-channels can be genetically altered in some rare cases of epilepsy; initial / supposedly 'one-off' seizures can themselves lead to the same alterations in their function.

These findings led the scientists to wonder if blocking BK channels could prevent or stop seizure behaviour. In their latest study, therefore, the team used experimental models of epilepsy and treated them with a well known BK channel blocker called paxilline. When they tried to artificially induce seizures in these models, they found that the paxilline completely prevented them from happening.

The researchers believe that targeting the BK channels and the abnormal brain activity that they induce, could one day be used as a way to prevent the progression of seizure disorders over time, thus attacking the root cause of epilepsy. Here paxilline has shown promise in preventing subsequent seizures in an experimental model of epilepsy. It is also effective at low concentrations meaning it can be taken as a pill.

The team is now carrying out further investigations into BK channels and precisely how they are altered by seizures, and they also want to look at whether or not paxilline is effective in treating multiple types of seizure. If their results are positive, paxilline could be used in new ways to treat epilepsy in the future.

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