Glucose and epileptic seizures

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Interesting paper, requires more discussion (to be added later):


Fructose-1,6-Bisphosphate Has Anticonvulsant Activity in Models of Acute Seizures in Adult Rats

A variety of observations suggest that decreasing glycolysis and increasing levels of reduced glutathione, generated by metabolism of glucose through the pentose phosphate pathway, would have an anticonvulsant effect. 

Glucose is the primary source of energy for the CNS. Imaging of children with Lennox–Gastaut and infantile spasms has shown decreased glucose utilization between seizures and excessive glycolysis immediately before, and during, seizures (Chugani and Chugani, 1999). 

Evidence suggests that the changes in glucose metabolism and decreased glutathione levels observed in the brains of patients with epilepsy favor the generation of each seizure. First, hyperglycemia has been associated with seizure activity (Schwechter et al., 2003; Lammouchi et al., 2004), whereas relative hypoglycemia has been shown to have an anticonvulsant effect (Greene et al., 2001). Second, the ketogenic diet (KD), which provides energy substrates for the brain that bypass glycolysis, has been shown to be an effective treatment for seizures (Freeman et al., 2007). Finally, animals with low levels of GSH have a low seizure threshold or spontaneous seizures (Wu et al., 2004).

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