Journal
CURRENT TOPICS IN MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY
Volume 10, Issue 17, Pages 1785-1791Publisher
BENTHAM SCIENCE PUBL LTD
DOI: 10.2174/156802610792928095
Keywords
Multidrug transporters; antiepileptic drugs; brain imaging; positron emission tomography; verapamil; tariquidar
Categories
Funding
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Bonn, Germany) [Lo 274/9]
- National Institutes of Health [R21 NS049592]
- European Community [201380]
- Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [SFB F35]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The issue of pharmacoresistance in epilepsy has received considerable attention in recent years, and a number of plausible hypotheses have been proposed. Of these, the so-called transporter hypothesis is the most extensively researched and documented. This hypothesis assumes that refractory epilepsy is associated with a localised over-expression of drug transporter proteins such as P-glycoprotein (Pgp) in the region of the epileptic focus, which actively extrudes antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) from their intended site of action. However, although this hypothesis has biological plausibility, there is no clinical evidence to support the assertion that AEDs are sufficiently strong substrates for transporter-mediated extrusion from the brain. The use of modern brain imaging techniques to determine Pgp function in patients with refractory epilepsy has started only recently, and may ultimately determine whether increased expression and function of Pgp or other efflux transporters are involved in AED resistance.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available