Abstract
Sumatriptan has been used for the acute treatment of migraine attacks. There are many
similarities between migraine and epilepsy and the medications used to treat one of
these disorders can effectively be used to treat the other. The purpose of this study
was to evaluate and compare the anticonvulsant effects of sumatriptan with sodium
valproate in NMRI mice. 62 male NMRI mice were divided into 8 groups. The groups consisted
of a saline (control) group, 4 intraperitoneally (ip) administered sumatriptan groups
(1, 10, 50, and 100 mg/kg, ip), and 3 sodium valproate groups (50, 150, and 300 mg/kg,
ip). 20-min after the injection of either saline or one of the drug doses, pentylenetetrazol
(100 mg/kg, ip) was injected and seizure parameters were evaluated. The results showed
that 300 mg/kg sodium valproate markedly inhibited the seizure stage, whereas none
of the sumatriptan doses had any significant effect on this parameter. The latency
to stages 2 and 4 of the seizures and the interval between the pentylenetetrazol injection
to death was significantly increased by both sodium valproate and sumatriptan.
Sumatriptan is commonly used for the treatment of migraine and also has a protective
effect against seizures induced by pentylenetetrazol in mice.
Key words
antiepileptic drugs - GABA - neuropharmacology
