[Excitatory amino acids and perspectives of epilepsy treatment]

The main excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain is glutamate, which exerts its effects through multiple ionotropic and metabotropic receptors. Pharmacological and electrophysiological data point to essential role of glutamate receptors in seizure phenomena. Agonists of these receptors depolarize neurons and induce convulsions in various animal species. In contrast, glutamate receptor antagonists suppress seizure activity and may prevent development of an experimental epileptogenesis. Unfortunately, some of these drugs may evoke severe adverse effects such as, psychosis, impairment of memory and disturbance of motor functions. It is, however, believed that better understanding of molecular biology of glutamate receptors may help to design new anticonvulsants with good efficacy and safety profiles. Some aspects of excitatory amino acid neurochemistry and their therapeutic potential are critically discussed in this paper.