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NEUROSTEROIDS, A NEW ANTIEPILEPTIC THERAPY?

OANA TARȚA-ARSENE^*, GEORGE MOISA, DIANA GABRIELA BÂRCĂ, DANA CRAIU

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Neurosteroids represent a class of hormones demonstrated to be synthesized in brain and having specific cerebral functions. There are three major categories of neurosteroids depending on molecule structure: pregnane, androstane and sulfatate derivatives. The first two are inhibitors and the last one is excitatory. The inhibitor ones are acting on specific GABA (gamma-amino butyric) receptors, different from classical antiepileptic drugs as benzodiazepine and barbiturates. Epilepsy is a chronic disease where the level of excitation is above the one of inhibition, and this is why the neurons “fires” and the patients have seizures with different clinical signs depending on epileptogenic focus. There is a bipolar relation between epilepsy and neurosteroids, because different types of seizures could influence the level of those and also the neurosteroids could have an antiepileptic role. The article focuses on the possible function of neurosteoids in epilepsy, describing a possible new antiepileptic formula.