[Endogenous anticonvulsant and neuroprotective agents]

Elucidation of the biochemical basis of neuronal degeneration following seizures, ischemia or hypoglycemia appears to be one of the most urgent problems of contemporary science. Close attention has been devoted to endogenous anticonvulsant and/or neuroprotective agents which help to maintain a neuronal homeostasis under pathological conditions. The list of putative neuroprotectants is very long and includes substances with diverse chemical structures, such as, e.g., adenosine, amino acids (kinurenic acid, taurine), neuropeptides (opioid peptides, thyreoliberine, neuropeptide Y, galanin, VIP/PACAP) and some neurosteroids (allopregnanolone, dehydroepiandrosterone). In recent years great progress has been made in the studies into not only their biosynthesis, metabolism and regulation of release in the nervous tissue, but also molecular and functional characteristics of their receptors. Apart from fast ionic effects leading to repolarization of the neuronal membrane, these endogenous neuroprotective agents may exert long-term effects on intracellular second messengers and genomic mechanisms which are crucially involved in the regulation of excitotoxic and apoptotic cascades. It is still an open question whether in the foreseeable future the presented direction of research will allow us to regulate endogenous anticonvulsant and neuroprotective mechanisms in a subtle way in order to substitute for or support other forms of treatment.