In this review, we re-examine the evidence for the involvement of nAChRs in the pathophysiology of some epileptic disorders, especially ADNFLE and JME, and provide an overview of nAChR antagonists that have been evaluated in animal models of seizure.
Mutation (Ser284Leu) of neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor alpha 4 subunit associated with frontal lobe epilepsy causes faster desensitization of the rat receptor expressed in oocytes.
Autosomal dominant nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy: a genotypic comparative study of Japanese and Korean families carrying the CHRNA4 Ser284Leu mutation.
In this study, α7-nAchRs were activated by using PNU-282,987 (PNU), a selective α7-nAchR agonist, in order to evaluate their effect in seizure threshold as well as GABAergic parameters in a PFS rat model.
Rats harboring S284L Chrna4 mutation show attenuation of synaptic and extrasynaptic GABAergic transmission and exhibit the nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy phenotype.
DEX reduced seizure severity and increased the amplitudes and sustainable time of LTP, and also inhibited the hippocampal expression of α7-nAChR and IL-1β in CSE rats.