News Story
New hope for epileptics
Researchers from UNSW and the University of Melbourne have discovered a mechanism that could be used as a drug target to slash by almost two-thirds the number of seizures endured by some epileptics.
The research, which has just been published in the European Journal of Neuroscience, shows seizures are dramatically reduced by a new targeted treatment approach in a rat model of genetic generalised epilepsy.
It has been known for some time that a particular transmitter neuropeptide Y, NPY has the ability to modulate seizures. Now the researchers have discovered that NPY does this by acting on one of three receptors in the brain. This receptor could be the target for drug therapies relating to Absence Epilepsy.
For the full story, see the UNSW website.
News story published 3/07/2007