Antiepileptic Drugs and the Importance of Topiramate which is A New Antiepileptic on Epilepsy Treatment

Seizures are common and is a symptom encountered in all branches of medicine. Approximately 2% of people will have had one or more seizures during their life. Epilepsy is any disorder in which spontaneous recurrence of unprovoked seizures is the main symptom. It is a common chronic neurologic disorder and affects 1% to 2% of all people. Antiepileptic drug (AED) therapy is the common treatment for epilepsy. Selection of the appropriate AED depends on type of seizure and epilepsy present, individual drug characteristics, including pharmacokinetics, side effects, dosing interval, and cost. All available AEDs are effective as adjunctive therapy and most are effective as initial monotherapy for partial seizures. Topiramate (TPM), lamotrigine and valproate are the most preferred among antiepileptic drugs in generalized seizures. Topiramate is one of several newer antiepileptic drugs that were introduced in the 1990s. Although the mechanism of action of TPM is not fully understood, it has a number of mechanisms of action including inhibition of glutamate activity via on alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid (AMPA) and kainate receptors. Therefore it is considered as a neuroprotective agent following seizures. Due to its activity on different receptors, the effects of TPM in the treatment of epilepsy and different disorders still have been the subject of many studies. This article is embraced the recent data about TPM in the treatment of epilepsy.