Cognitive effects of levetiracetam versus topiramate

An Overview of Pharmacotherapy Options for Alcohol Use Disorder

Clinical trials have found a number of pharmacotherapy options to be effective, but despite the need and the proven benefits, the use of pharmacotherapy remains low.

Protective effect of rutin on impairment of cognitive functions of due to antiepileptic drugs on zebrafish model

Aim:

The severity of adverse reactions due to antiepileptics is observed during initiation and early treatment in which impairment of cognitive effects are common. Since long time, herbal medicine is a natural remedy to treat neural symptoms. Phytochemicals have been proven to be potent neuro-protective agents. Rutin, a bioflavonoid is established to be nootropic in many studies. In this study, we aimed to determine the protective effect of rutin in zebrafish against the side effects produced by AEDs.

Materials and Methods:

Seizures were induced in zebrafish by phenylenetetrazole. Rutin pretreatment (50 mg/kg, single injection, i.p.) was done before commencement of the study. Behavioral studies were performed as: latency to move high in the tank, locomotion effects, color effect, shoal cohesion, light/dark test on Zebrafish.

Results:

Treatment with rutin reverted the locomotor behavior to normal. Treatment with AEDs caused fishes to move in all regions while, in case of treatment with rutin, the response reverted to normal. Treatment with AEDs altered swimming behavior of zebrafish, however, rutin showed a positive effect over this behavior. Treatment with AEDs resulted in restricted movement of zebrafish to the dark zone. Treatment with rutin caused increased latency of zebrafish to move in the light compartment. Similarly, time spent in the light compartment by zebrafish treated with rutin was significantly (P < 0.01) higher as compared to zebrafish treated with AEDs.

Conclusion:

The results suggest a protective role of rutin on cognition impaired by AEDs.

Impaired verbal fluency under topiramate--evidence for synergistic negative effects of epilepsy, topiramate, and polytherapy

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Treatment with topiramate (TPM) is known to negatively affect executive functions and verbal fluency in particular. However, judgments of cognitive side effects under TPM rarely consider clinical conditions and possible effects of epilepsy, treatment, and drug load.

METHODS

This retrospective cross-sectional study in large cohorts of patients with epilepsy evaluated the impact of TPM mono- and polytherapy on verbal fluency. To isolate TPM-induced effects from those of epilepsy and antiepileptic medication in general, verbal fluency under TPM (N = 421) was compared to the performance of a matched sample of patients with an antiepileptic medication other than TPM (N = 351), untreated patients (N = 108), and healthy controls (N = 100).

RESULTS

Impaired verbal fluency performance was seen in 77% of the patients treated with TPM. Compared to healthy controls, verbal fluency in untreated patients was reduced by 22%, under monotherapy without TPM by 31% and under TPM monotherapy by 45%. With and without TPM, verbal fluency performance linearly decreased with each additional drug in polytherapy. On each level, performance under TPM was 21-28% worse than in the respective condition without TPM. Unimpaired performance under TPM was primarily associated with lower dose, higher education, and a later onset of epilepsy.

CONCLUSIONS

The majority of patients under TPM shows reduced verbal fluency. However, when taking the cumulative negative effects of epilepsy, and the concomitant drug regimen into account, TPM is associated with a 21-28% poorer performance as compared with other drugs. Additionally, the data indicate an impact of dose and reserve capacity on the occurrence of impairments.

Treatment of alcohol dependence with low-dose topiramate: an open-label controlled study

BACKGROUND

GABAergic anticonvulsants have been recommended for the treatment of alcohol dependence and the prevention of relapse. Several studies have demonstrated topiramate's efficacy in improving drinking behaviour and maintaining abstinence. The objective of the present open-label controlled study was to assess efficacy and tolerability of low-dose topiramate as adjunctive treatment in alcohol dependence during the immediate post-detoxification period and during a 16-week follow-up period after alcohol withdrawal.

METHODS

Following a 7-10 day inpatient alcohol detoxification protocol, 90 patients were assigned to receive either topiramate (up to 75 mg per day) in addition to psychotherapeutic treatment (n = 30) or psychotherapy alone (n = 60). Symptoms of depression and anxiety, as well as craving, were monitored for 4-6 weeks immediately following detoxification on an inpatient basis. Thereafter, both groups were followed as outpatients at a weekly basis for another 4 months in order to monitor their course and abstinence from alcohol.

RESULTS

A marked improvement in depressive (p < 0.01), anxiety (p < 0.01), and obsessive-compulsive drinking symptoms (p < 0.01) was observed over the consecutive assessments in both study groups. However, individuals on topiramate fared better than controls (p < 0.01) during inpatient treatment. Moreover, during the 4-month follow up period, relapse rate was lower among patients who received topiramate (66.7%) compared to those who received no adjunctive treatment (85.5%), (p = 0.043). Time to relapse in the topiramate augmentation group was significantly longer compared to the control group (log rank test, p = 0.008). Thus, median duration of abstinence was 4 weeks for the non-medicated group whereas it reached 10 weeks for the topiramate group. No serious side effects of topiramate were recorded throughout the study.

CONCLUSIONS

Low-dose topiramate as an adjunct to psychotherapeutic treatment is well tolerated and effective in reducing alcohol craving, as well as symptoms of depression and anxiety, present during the early phase of alcohol withdrawal. Furthermore, topiramate considerably helps to abstain from drinking during the first 16-week post-detoxification period.

Epilepsy and brain tumors

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

To present an overview of the recent findings in pathophysiology and management of epileptic seizures in patients with brain tumors.

RECENT FINDINGS

Low-grade gliomas are the most epileptogenic brain tumors. Regarding pathophysiology, the role of peritumoral changes [hypoxia and acidosis, blood-brain barrier (BBB) disruption, increase or decrease of neurotransmitters and receptors] are of increasing importance. Tumor-associated epilepsy and tumor growth could have some common molecular pathways. Total/subtotal surgical resection (with or without epilepsy surgery) allows a seizure control in a high percentage of patients. Radiotherapy and chemotherapy as well have a role. New antiepileptic drugs are promising, both in terms of efficacy and tolerability. The resistance to antiepileptic drugs is still a major problem: new insights into pathogenesis are needed to develop strategies to manipulate the pharmakoresistance.

SUMMARY

Epileptic seizures in brain tumors have been definitely recognized as one of the major problems in patients with brain tumors, and need specific and multidisciplinary approaches.

Familial vulnerability to an unusual cognitive adverse effect of topiramate: Discussion of mechanisms

BACKGROUND

Some patients experience cognitive disturbances with topiramate.

CASE HISTORIES

A 19-year-old bipolar woman and her 46-year-old mother with paranoid personality disorder both used topiramate (25-50 mg/day) off-label for weight loss. Both women suffer from learning disorders, and both are excessively sensitive to the sedative adverse effects of psychotropic medications.

RESULTS

Within days of starting topiramate, the women began to exhibit troublesome word- and phrase-repetition and word substitution, both occurring only in their written expression. The symptoms were associated with mild sedation, persisted during two weeks of topiramate treatment, and remitted days after topiramate was withdrawn.

DISCUSSION

The presence of the learning disorders and the sensitivity to the sedative adverse effects of drugs may explain why cognitive adverse effects, known to occur with topiramate, developed at the low dose of 25-50 mg/day. The proclivity of topiramate to affect language functions and a possible familial vulnerability herein may explain why the women explained similar, language-specific symptoms. An investigation of topiramate-induced cognitive impairments in family members with epilepsy may throw light on the subject.

The aspects and mechanisms of cognitive alterations in epilepsy: the role of antiepileptic medications

Epilepsy is a major health problem. Several studies suggest a significant influence of epilepsy and its treatment on dynamic and functional properties of brain activity. Epilepsy can adversely affect mental development, cognition, and behavior. Epileptic patients may experience reduced intelligence, attention, and problems in memory, language, and frontal executive functions. Neuropsychological, functional, and quantitative neuroimaging studies revealed that epilepsy affect the brain as a whole. Mechanisms of epilepsy-related cognitive dysfunction are poorly delineated. Cognitive deficits with epilepsy may be transient, persistent, or progressive. Transient disruption of cognitive encoding processes may occur with paroxysmal focal or generalized epileptic discharges, whereas epileptogenesis-related neuronal plasticity, reorganization, sprouting, and impairment of cellular metabolism are fundamental determinants for progressive cognitive deterioration. Also antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) have differential, reversible, and sometimes cumulative cognitive adverse consequences. AEDs not only reduce neuronal irritability but also may impair neuronal excitability, neurotransmitter release, enzymes, and factors critical for information processing and memory. The present article serves as an overview of recent studies in adult and childhood epilepsy literatures present in PubMed that highlighted cognitive evaluation in epilepsy field (publications till 2008 were checked). We also checked the reference lists of the retrieved studies for additional reports of relevant studies, in addition to our experience in this field. Our search revealed that although the aspects of cognitive dysfunction, risk factors, and consequences have been explored in many studies; however, the mechanisms of contribution of epilepsy-related variables, including AEDs, to patients' cognition are largely unexplored. In this review, we discussed the differential effect of AEDs in mature and immature brains and the known mechanisms underlying epilepsy and AEDs adverse effects on cognition. The nature, timing, course, and mechanisms of cognitive alteration with epilepsy and its medications are of considerable clinical and research implications.