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Vavers E, Zvejniece L, Dambrova M. Sigma-1 receptor and seizures. Pharmacol Res 2023; 191:106771. [PMID: 37068533 PMCID: PMC10176040 DOI: 10.1016/j.phrs.2023.106771] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2023] [Revised: 04/03/2023] [Accepted: 04/13/2023] [Indexed: 04/19/2023]
Abstract
Over the last decade, sigma-1 receptor (Sig1R) has been recognized as a valid target for the treatment of seizure disorders and seizure-related comorbidities. Clinical trials with Sig1R ligands are underway testing therapies for the treatment of drug-resistant seizures, developmental and epileptic encephalopathies, and photosensitive epilepsy. However, the direct molecular mechanism by which Sig1R modulates seizures and the balance between excitatory and inhibitory pathways has not been fully elucidated. This review article aims to summarize existing knowledge of Sig1R and its involvement in seizures by focusing on the evidence obtained from Sig1R knockout animals and the anti-seizure effects of Sig1R ligands. In addition, this review article includes a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of the use of existing compounds and describes the challenges and future perspectives on the use of Sig1R as a target for the treatment of seizure disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edijs Vavers
- Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis, Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Pharmacology, Aizkraukles 21, LV-1006, Riga, Latvia; University of Tartu, Faculty of Science and Technology, Institute of Chemistry, Ravila 14a, 50411, Tartu, Estonia.
| | - Liga Zvejniece
- Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis, Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Pharmacology, Aizkraukles 21, LV-1006, Riga, Latvia
| | - Maija Dambrova
- Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis, Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Pharmacology, Aizkraukles 21, LV-1006, Riga, Latvia; Riga Stradiņš University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Konsula 21, LV-1007, Riga, Latvia
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Aguilar BL, Malkova L, N'Gouemo P, Forcelli PA. Genetically Epilepsy-Prone Rats Display Anxiety-Like Behaviors and Neuropsychiatric Comorbidities of Epilepsy. Front Neurol 2018; 9:476. [PMID: 29997563 PMCID: PMC6030811 DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2018.00476] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2018] [Accepted: 06/01/2018] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Epilepsy is associated with a variety of neuropsychiatric comorbidities, including both anxiety and depression. Despite high occurrences of depression and anxiety seen in human epilepsy populations, little is known about the etiology of these comorbidities. Experimental models of epilepsy provide a platform to disentangle the contribution of acute seizures, genetic predisposition, and underlying circuit pathologies to anxious and depressive phenotypes. Most studies to date have focused on comorbidities in acquired epilepsies; genetic models, however, allow for the assessment of affective phenotypes that occur prior to onset of recurrent seizures. Here, we tested male and female genetically epilepsy-prone rats (GEPR-3s) and Sprague-Dawley controls in a battery of tests sensitive to anxiety-like and depressive-like phenotypes. GEPR-3s showed increased anxiety-like behavior in the open field test, elevated plus maze, light-dark transition test, and looming threat test. Moreover, GEPR-3s showed impaired prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle reflex, decreased sucrose preference index, and impaired novel object recognition memory. We also characterized defense behaviors in response to stimulation thresholds of deep and intermediate layers of the superior colliculus (DLSC), but found no difference between strains. In sum, GEPR-3s showed inherited anxiety, an effect that did not differ significantly between sexes. The anxiety phenotype in adult GEPR-3s suggests strong genetic influences that may underlie both the seizure disorder and the comorbidities seen in epilepsy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brittany L Aguilar
- Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, United States.,Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, United States
| | - Ludise Malkova
- Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, United States.,Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, United States
| | - Prosper N'Gouemo
- Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, United States.,Department of Pediatrics, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, United States
| | - Patrick A Forcelli
- Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, United States.,Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, United States.,Department of Neuroscience, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, United States
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Serotonin depletion increases seizure susceptibility and worsens neuropathological outcomes in kainate model of epilepsy. Brain Res Bull 2017; 134:109-120. [PMID: 28716398 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainresbull.2017.07.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2017] [Revised: 07/07/2017] [Accepted: 07/10/2017] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Serotonin is implicated in the regulation of seizures, but whether or not it can potentiate the effects of epileptogenic factors is not fully established. Using the kainic acid model of epilepsy in rats, we tested the effects of serotonin depletion on (1) susceptibility to acute seizures, (2) development of spontaneous recurrent seizures and (3) behavioral and neuroanatomical sequelae of kainic acid treatment. Serotonin was depleted by pretreating rats with p-chlorophenylalanine. In different groups, kainic acid was injected at 3 different doses: 6.5mg/kg, 9.0mg/kg or 12.5mg/kg. A single dose of 6.5mg/kg of kainic acid reliably induced status epilepticus in p-chlorophenylalanine-pretreated rats, but not in saline-pretreated rats. The neuroexcitatory effects of kainic acid in the p-chlorophenylalanine-pretreated rats, but not in saline-pretreated rats, were associated with the presence of tonic-clonic convulsions and high lethality. Compared to controls, a greater portion of serotonin-depleted rats showed spontaneous recurrent seizures after kainic acid injections. Loss of hippocampal neurons and spatial memory deficits associated with kainic acid treatment were exacerbated by prior depletion of serotonin. The present findings are of particular importance because they suggest that low serotonin activity may represent one of the major risk factors for epilepsy and, thus, offer potentially relevant targets for prevention of epileptogenesis.
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da Fonseca NC, Joaquim HP, Talib LL, de Vincentiis S, Gattaz WF, Valente KD. Hippocampal serotonin depletion is related to the presence of generalized tonic–clonic seizures, but not to psychiatric disorders in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. Epilepsy Res 2015; 111:18-25. [DOI: 10.1016/j.eplepsyres.2014.12.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2014] [Revised: 12/18/2014] [Accepted: 12/30/2014] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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Receptor targets for antidepressant therapy in bipolar disorder: an overview. J Affect Disord 2012; 138:222-38. [PMID: 21601292 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2011.04.043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2011] [Accepted: 04/27/2011] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
The treatment of bipolar depression is one of the most challenging issues in contemporary psychiatry. Currently only quetiapine and the olanzapine-fluoxetine combination are officially approved by the FDA against this condition. The neurobiology of bipolar depression and the possible targets of bipolar antidepressant therapy remain relatively elusive. We performed a complete and systematic review to identify agents with definite positive or negative results concerning efficacy followed by a second systematic review to identify the pharmacodynamic properties of these agents. The comparison of properties suggests that the stronger predictors for antidepressant efficacy in bipolar depression were norepinephrine alpha-1, dopamine D1 and histamine antagonism, followed by 5-HT2A, muscarinic and dopamine D2 and D3 antagonism and eventually by norepinephrine reuptake inhibition and 5HT-1A agonism. Serotonin reuptake which constitutes the cornerstone in unipolar depression treatment does not seem to play a significant role for bipolar depression. Our exhaustive review is compatible with a complex model with multiple levels of interaction between the major neurotransmitter systems without a single target being either necessary or sufficient to elicit the antidepressant effect in bipolar depression.
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The role of the central noradrenergic system in behavioral inhibition. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2011; 67:193-208. [PMID: 21315760 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainresrev.2011.02.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2010] [Revised: 01/30/2011] [Accepted: 02/03/2011] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Although the central noradrenergic system has been shown to be involved in a number of behavioral and neurophysiological processes, the relation of these to its role in depressive illness has been difficult to define. The present review discusses the hypothesis that one of its chief functions that may be related to affective illness is the inhibition of behavioral activation, a prominent symptom of the disorder. This hypothesis is found to be consistent with most previous neuropsychopharmacological and immunohistochemical experiments on active behavior in rodents in a variety of experimental conditions using manipulation of neurotransmission at both locus coeruleus and forebrain adrenergic receptors. The findings support a mechanism in which high rates of noradrenergic neural activity suppress the neural activity of principal neurons in forebrain regions mediating active behavior. The suppression may be mediated through postsynaptic galaninergic and adrenergic receptors, and via the release of corticotrophin-releasing hormone. The hypothesis is consistent with clinical evidence for central noradrenergic system hyperactivity in depressives and with the view that this hyperactivity is a contributing etiological factor in the disorder. A similar mechanism may underlie the ability of the noradrenergic system to suppress seizure activity suggesting that inhibition of the spread of neural activation may be a unifying function.
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Szyndler J, Maciejak P, Turzyńska D, Sobolewska A, Bidziński A, Płaźnik A. Time course of changes in the concentrations of monoamines in the brain structures of pentylenetetrazole-kindled rats. J Neural Transm (Vienna) 2010; 117:707-18. [DOI: 10.1007/s00702-010-0414-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2009] [Accepted: 04/19/2010] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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Kauffman MA, Consalvo D, Gonzalez-Morón D, Aguirre F, D'Alessio L, Kochen S. Serotonin transporter gene variation and refractory mesial temporal epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis. Epilepsy Res 2009; 85:231-4. [PMID: 19375285 DOI: 10.1016/j.eplepsyres.2009.03.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2008] [Revised: 03/05/2009] [Accepted: 03/15/2009] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
We performed a molecular epidemiology study in a population of 105 mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis (MTE-HS) patients in order to investigate the role of a polymorphism in the serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4) in the prediction of antiepileptic drug (AED) treatment response. Homozygous carriers of the 12-repeat allele had an almost fourfold increase in risk for a MTE-HS not responding to medical treatment (OR 3.88; CI 95% 1.40-10.7; p=0.006) compared to carriers of the 10-repeat allele. Therefore, a polymorphism of SLC6A4 might be a genetic marker of pharmacoresistance in MTE-HS patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcelo Andrés Kauffman
- Centro de Epilepsia, División Neurología, Hospital Ramos Mejía, CEFYBO, CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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Abstract
Major depression and related depressive disorders are highly prevalent in the general population and even more so in patients with epilepsy. Yet depression in these patients remains underdiagnosed and undertreated. This is particularly worrisome as depression has greater negative impact on quality of life than seizure frequency. Additionally, depression is associated with poorer seizure control, and the risk of suicide in patients with epilepsy is greatly increased. Reluctance to treat depression results from the traditional belief that antidepressants should be restricted in epilepsy because of a supposed decrease in seizure threshold. However, there is growing evidence that many antidepressants rather have anticonvulsant effects. Experimental studies show that in critical brain regions such as the frontal lobes and the limbic system enforced serotonergic circuits increase seizure threshold. Clinical data suggest that modern antidepressants may reduce seizure frequency in patients with pharmacoresistant epilepsy. Here we review the concept that selective reuptake inhibitors of serotonin (SSRIs) have a positive effect on the mood disorder as well as on epilepsy. When adhering to the usual precautions, treatment with SSRIs in patients with epilepsy and depression is safe and should not be withheld.
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Affiliation(s)
- D Kondziella
- Department of Neurology, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Göteborg, Sweden.
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