Isovaline: A unique amino acid with antiepileptic drug properties

Current anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) primarily act by decreasing excitation or increasing inhibition of the neuronal network.  This is achieved by inactivating Na + or Ca 2+ ion channels and decreasing glutamate release or by enhancing GABAergic influence.  Despite using these AEDs, approximately 30% of epileptic patients remain intractable.  As a consequence, there is a clear need to develop new AEDs that may work via novel mechanisms to provide greater efficacy.  With this in mind, we investigated whether isovaline, a unique amino acid with a similar chemical structure to glycine and GABA, could fill this role.  Previously, we showed that isovaline attenuated seizure-like events (SLEs) in vitro via a novel mechanism.  In this research highlight, we discuss our latest published findings which demonstrate the efficacy of isovaline in an in vivo rat model of epilepsy.