Advances in Epilepsy and Antiepileptic Drugs, 3rd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue follows the publication of the third edition on the topic “Advances in Epilepsy and Antiepileptic Drugs”.

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijms/special_issues/epilepsy_antiepileptic_drugs

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijms/special_issues/Phar_Antiepileptic_Drugs_2

The treatment of epilepsy is still a challenging issue not only for clinicians, but also for preclinical researchers, who are working to design and develop novel efficacious drugs. Novel insights on epileptogenesis and all pathophysiological mechanisms in the brain that change and transform normal neurons into an over-excitable state, ultimately resulting in epilepsy, provide us with a better understanding of various treatment options. However, drug-resistant epilepsy in patients forces clinicians to combine drugs together in order to offer their patients efficacious treatment, which can lead to interactions between drugs whose nature may be pharmacodynamic, pharmacokinetic, or mixed. To elaborate an effective treatment in this clinical situation, medicinal chemistry specialists make efforts to design novel chemical formulas of antiepileptic drugs by transforming well-known molecules of antiepileptic drugs or combining various active molecules into one novel drug. On the other hand, serendipitous findings of some novel anticonvulsant substances during the antiseizure screening program in preclinical studies allows the discovery of novel drugs. Current research focuses not only on newly chemically synthesized drugs, but also on naturally occurring compounds of plant origin, including phyto-cannabinoids and their synthetic derivatives. Present advances in the treatment of epilepsy are possible due to the second- and third-generation as well as novel antiepileptic drugs, licensed and approved to treat refractory epilepsy, which in combination are able to adequately control seizure attacks in epilepsy patients. Epileptologists over the past five years have provided astonishing insights into the pharmacology and treatment of epilepsy by integrating various approaches from in silico methods and animal models to clinical settings, with drugs in the pipeline that will become novel treatment options.

Therefore, this Special Issue of IJMS will focus on the advances in the field of treatment in epilepsy over the last five years, their impact on our overall understanding of epileptogenesis and the pathophysiology of seizure attacks, and how this can inform the development of new therapeutics. This collection will include aspects of how novel antiseizure medications can be selected in preclinical testing, structurally modified and chemically improved, and combined with other antiseizure drugs in order to maximize their efficacy and minimize their toxicity. We are seeking novel research and achievements in the treatment of epilepsy or review articles focused on the keywords below, dedicated to developments from the last five years and how these have changed or enhanced our understanding of the pharmacotherapy of epilepsy.

Prof. Dr. Jarogniew J. Luszczki
Guest Editor

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• antiepileptic drugs: classic, novel, second and third generations
• antiseizure medications: novel therapeutic options
• cannabinoids in epilepsy
• animal models of epilepsy: from animals to humans
• clinical trials in epilepsy: novel potentially efficacious drugs
• interactions between antiepileptic drugs: pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic aspects
• interactions of antiepileptic drugs with other drugs: pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic aspects
• adverse effects of antiseizure medication
• treatment of epilepsy in specific populations (elderly, childbearing women, children)
• drug-resistant epilepsy in preclinical conditions
• epileptogenesis: all pathophysiological and molecular aspects