The 7 types of anticonvulsant drugs (antiepileptic drugs)

These drugs are used to treat seizures and epilepsy.

Anticonvulsant drugs, such as carbamazepine, lamotrigine, gabapentin or valproate, are prescribed mainly in cases of epilepsy. Some of them have also been shown to be effective in the management of symptoms of other psychological problems, such as bipolar disorder, anxiety, borderline personality disorder or neuropathic pain.

In this article we will describe the characteristics of the 7 main types of anticonvulsants or antiepileptic drugsThe main antiepileptic drugs are: carboxamides, GABA structural analogs, triazines, fatty acid derivatives, benzodiazepines, barbiturates and bromides. Some are still in use today, while others have lost their relevance.

What are anticonvulsants?

Anticonvulsant or antiepileptic drugs are a type of medication that is used primarily to treat seizures due to epileptic seizures or other causes.. However, their uses are not limited to this symptom alone, but they are increasingly prescribed to stabilize mood and to reduce neuropathic pain.

Since there are many different anticonvulsants, it is not possible to describe a single mechanism of action. However, a significant proportion of these drugs reduce electrochemical activity in the brain through their interaction with neurotransmitter receptors. interaction with neurotransmitter receptors such as GABA and glutamate..

Other antiepileptic drugs block voltage-controlled sodium or calcium channels; this decreases the function of neurotransmitters associated with seizures. There are also a number of Anticonvulsant drugs whose mechanism of action remains unknown at present, although their efficacy has been demonstrated.

In the case of epilepsy, these effects reduce the frequency with which neurons fire electrochemical signals, which prevents the neural dysfunctions that cause seizures from spreading throughout the brain, significantly limiting the severity of seizures..

Some anticonvulsants are used to stabilize mood in various psychological disorders. In this sense, its use in cases of bipolar disorder, characterized by alternating periods of depression and mania, and borderline personality disorder, in which there is instability of emotions and identity, stands out.

Types of anticonvulsant drugs

Many different types of anticonvulsant drugs have been used since potassium bromide was first used to treat cases of "hysterical epilepsy" in the mid-19th century. Today the use of these and other classical anticonvulsants, such as barbiturates and benzodiazepines, has been relegated to the background.

At present, the drugs of choice for the drugs of choice for the treatment of seizures are include carbamazepine and oxcarbazepine, which belong to the carboxamide class, GABA structural analogs such as gabapentin, and some other drugs such as valproic acid and lamotrigine.

Carboxamides

Carbamazepine and oxcarbazepine are two of the most widely used anticonvulsants today. currently used. In addition to treating epilepsy, carbamazepine is prescribed in cases of neuropathic pain, while oxcarbazepine is used as an adjunctive medication in bipolar disorder when symptoms do not remit with the drugs of choice.

These carboxamides are considered to be some of the safest treatments for seizures. Their side effects are usually few or mild, limited to dizziness, nausea, vomiting, headaches or drowsiness; they rarely cause more serious adverse reactions.

2. Structural analogues of GABA

Drugs that act in a similar way to the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA are called "structural analogs of GABA". The two most common anticonvulsants in this class are gabapentin, which is used to treat epilepsy, neuropathic pain and restless legs syndrome, and pregabalin, used in anxiety disorders and fibromyalgia.

3. Fatty acid derivatives

Anticonvulsants derived from fatty acids, the most relevant of which is valproate or valproic acid, increase the availability of GABA in the nervous system or exert other agonist effects on it. They also They also block voltage-controlled sodium and calcium channels; this results in an inhibition of GABAThey also block voltage-controlled sodium and calcium channels; this results in inhibition of brain activity.

4. Triazines

This class of antiepileptic drugs inhibits the release of excitatory neurotransmitters, mainly glutamate. Lamotrigine belongs to this group and is used to treat bipolar disorder and different types of epileptic seizures: focal seizures, tonic-clonic seizures and those resulting from Lennox-Gastaut syndrome.

5. Benzodiazepines

Benzodiazepines, a type of sedative, have been for many decades the most widely used psychotropic drugs to treat problems related to physiological and cognitive hyperarousal. and cognitivesuch as anxiety, muscle tension and insomnia. Among the benzodiazepines used as anticonvulsants are clonazepam and clobazam.

6. Barbiturates

Phenobarbital, a drug of the barbiturate class, was first used in 1912 to prevent and treat the symptoms of epilepsy. Since then, many anticonvulsants have been discovered that have less intense and interfering sedative effects, although barbiturates are still sometimes used for their rapid effect in relieving seizures.

7. Bromides

Sodium bromide was the first drug to be used to treat epilepsy.. Its origin dates back to 1857, when Charles Locock suggested this application. They were replaced by barbiturates after the emergence of phenobarbital in 1912, but today bromides are still used as anticonvulsants in veterinary medicine, especially in dogs.