Basic aspects of epilepsy

This review on epilepsy research progress summarizes developments in both animal and human studies of the basic neurophysiologic and neurochemical mechanisms of the epilepsies. Furthermore, anatomic and genetic aspects of epileptic seizures and new models of epilepsy will be discussed. Finally, new data on pharmacologic strategies for treatment of epilepsy are presented, including a critical survey of recent antiepileptic drug developments. One of the most disappointing recent findings in this aspect is that competitive antagonists at the N-methyl-D-aspartate subtype of glutamate receptors seem to be unsuited for antiepileptic therapy because epileptogenesis reduces the therapeutic index of such drugs in experimental as well as epileptic patients.