Emerging applications of hormonal therapy of paroxysmal central nervous system disorders

Gonadal and adrenal steroidal hormones and their related neuropeptides affect seizures. Seizures, in their turn, may affect the functioning of these endocrine systems. Both these sets of effects may be clinically important and open to therapeutic manipulation. Recent advances in understanding the effects of these hormones and their metabolites on neuronal excitability have opened the way for a number of new, hormonally-based therapeutic approaches to seizure management. Some of these have reached various stages of clinical trials, while others are still in the preclinical stages of testing. Similarly, treatment of some of the hormonal consequences of seizures has recently been explored and will be discussed.