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NEUROPHARMACOLOGY

Modulation of Sodium Channel Inactivation Gating by a Novel Lactam: Implications for Seizure Suppression in Chronic Limbic Epilepsy

Neuroscience Graduate Program (N.J.H., E.H.B., M.K.P.), Departments of Anesthesiology (P.J.J., E.C.M., T.W.B., N.J.H., M.K.P.), Neurology (E.H.B.) and Chemistry (Y.W.), University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia; Departments of Oncology and Neuroscience, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC (M.L.B.); and ASP Program, National Institute of Neurological Disease and Stroke, Rockville, Maryland (J.P.S.)

Epilepsy remains a devastating neurological disorder associated with recurrent, unprovoked, spontaneous epileptic seizures. Current treatments involve seizure suppression using antiepileptic drugs (AEDs); however, many patients remain refractory to current treatments or suffer serious side effects. In view of this continued need for more effective and safer AEDs, we have designed a novel compound, 3-hydroxy-3-(4-methoxyphenyl)-1-methyl-1,3-dihydro-indol-2-one (YWI92), based on a lactam structural class, and evaluated its modulation of human neuronal sodium channel isoform (hNa_v)1.2 currents and hippocampal neuron action potential firing. Furthermore, we have tested its AED activity using a chronic and acute rat seizure model. In a similar manner to lamotrigine, a clinically used AED, YWI92 exhibited tonic block of hNa_v1.2 channels and caused a hyperpolarizing shift in the steady-state inactivation curve when using a 30-s inactivating prepulse. YWI92 also delayed the time constants of channel repriming after a 30-s inactivating prepulse and exhibited use-dependent block at 20-Hz stimulation frequency. In membrane excitability experiments, YWI92 inhibited burst firing in CA1 neurons of animals with temporal lobe epilepsy at concentrations that had little effect on CA1 neurons from control animals. These actions on neuronal activity translated into AED activity in the maximal electroshock acute seizure model (ED₅₀ = 22.96 mg/kg), and importantly, in a chronic temporal lobe epilepsy model, in which the mean number of seizures was reduced. Notably, YWI92 exhibited no sedative/ataxic side effects at concentrations up to 500 mg/kg. In summary, greater affinity for inactivated sodium channels, particularly after long depolarizing prepulses, may be important for both anticonvulsant activity and drug tolerability.

Address correspondence to: Dr. Manoj K. Patel, Department of Anesthesiology, University of Virginia Health Systems, 1 Hospital Dr., Old Medical School, Charlottesville, VA 22908. E-mail: mkp5u{at}virginia.edu