Recent advances in epilepsy management

Effect of Chronic Administration of 5-(3-chlorophenyl)-4-Hexyl-2,4 -Dihydro-3H-1,2,4-Triazole-3-Thione (TP-315)-A New Anticonvulsant Drug Candidate-On Living Organisms

About 70 million people suffer from epilepsy—a chronic neurodegenerative disease. In most cases, the cause of the disease is unknown, but epilepsy can also develop as the result of a stroke, trauma to the brain, or the use of psychotropic substances. The treatment of epilepsy is mainly based on the administration of anticonvulsants, which the patient must most often use throughout their life. Despite significant progress in research on antiepileptic drugs, about 30% of patients still have drug-resistant epilepsy, which is insensitive to pharmacotherapy used so far. In our recent studies, we have shown that 4-alkyl-5-aryl-1,2,4-triazole-3-thiones act on the voltage-gated sodium channels and exhibit anticonvulsant activity in an MES (maximal electroshock-induced seizure) and 6Hz test in mice. Previous studies have shown their beneficial toxic and pharmacological profile, but their effect on a living organism during chronic use is still unknown. In the presented study, on the basis of the previously conducted tests and the PAMPA (parallel artificial membrane permeability assay) BBB (blood–brain barrier) test, we selected one 1,2,4-triazole-3-thione derivative—TP-315—for further studies aimed at assessing the impact of its chronic use on a living organism. After long-term administration of TP-315 to Albino Swiss mice, its effect on the functional parameters of internal organs was assessed by performing biochemical, morphological, and histopathological examinations. It was also determined whether the tested compound inhibits selected isoforms of the CYP450 enzyme system. On the basis of the conducted tests, it was found that TP-315 does not show nephrotoxic nor hepatotoxic effects and does not cause changes in hematological parameters. In vitro tests showed that TP-315 did not inhibit CYP2B6, CYP2D6, CYP3A4, or CYP3A5 enzymes at the concentration found in the serum of mice subjected to long-term exposure to this compound.

Optical mapping of neuronal activity during seizures in zebrafish

Mapping neuronal activity during the onset and propagation of epileptic seizures can provide a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying this pathology and improve our approaches to the development of new drugs. Recently, zebrafish has become an important model for studying epilepsy both in basic research and in drug discovery. Here, we employed a transgenic line with pan-neuronal expression of the genetically-encoded calcium indicator GCaMP6s to measure neuronal activity in zebrafish larvae during seizures induced by pentylenetretrazole (PTZ). With this approach, we mapped neuronal activity in different areas of the larval brain, demonstrating the high sensitivity of this method to different levels of alteration, as induced by increasing PTZ concentrations, and the rescuing effect of an anti-epileptic drug. We also present simultaneous measurements of brain and locomotor activity, as well as a high-throughput assay, demonstrating that GCaMP measurements can complement behavioural assays for the detection of subclinical epileptic seizures, thus enabling future investigations on human hypomorphic mutations and more effective drug screening methods. Notably, the methodology described here can be easily applied to the study of many human neuropathologies modelled in zebrafish, allowing a simple and yet detailed investigation of brain activity alterations associated with the pathological phenotype.