Abstract
A number of widely different animal seizure models have been employed in the search for new and novel anticonvulsant drugs useful for the tratment of human epilepsy. At present, no single laboratory test will, in itself, establish the presence or absence of anticonvulsant activity or fully predict the clinical potential of a test substance. Of the many available animal models, the maximal electroshock (MES) and subcutaneous pentylenetetrazol (scPTZ) tests still represent the most commonly employed models for the routine screening and identification of new, anticonvulsant drugs. This chapter will briefly describe how these two tests are conducted, their limitations and how they have contributed in the past and to the present day anticonvulsant drug discovery process.
Sommario
Numerosi modelli animali di crisi epilettiche sono stati impiegati per ricercare nuovi farmaci antiepilettici utili per il trattamento delle epilessie umane. Attualmente nessuno dei tests di laboratorio è in grado, da solo, di stabilire il valore entiepilettico di una determinata sostanza, o di predirne l'utilità clinica. Tra i molti modelli animali disponibili quelli più comunemente impiegati per selezionare nuovi farmaci antiepilettici sono il test di risposta all'elettroshock massimale (MES) e alla somministrazione subcutanea di pentilenetetrazolo (scPTZ). Il presente capitolo passa in rassegna la metodologia dei due tests, le loro limitazioni e il contributo che essi hanno formito in passato e tutt'ora forniscono alla scoperta di nuovi farmaci antiepilettici.
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White, H.S., Johnson, M., Wolf, H.H. et al. The early identification of anticonvulsant activity: role of the maximal electroshock and subcutaneous pentylenetetrazol seizure models. Ital J Neuro Sci 16, 73–77 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02229077
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02229077