[NeuroCoder]

I'd be curious about what the authors thoughts are on this molecule decreasing the threshold for seizures. I know they reported there were no clearly adverse effects throughout the study, but it's not like they had the mice on continuous EEG for epileptic events.

[terribleperson]

There are drugs in use today that lower seizure threshold, e.g. some antidepressants. So I guess it's be a question of how much it decreases the seizure threshold and whether it's a worthwhile tradeoff.

When the alternative is an unstoppable decline ending in death, I think pretty severe side-effects could be considered acceptable.

[NeuroCoder]

I know there are some extreme cases reported where antidepressants were associated with seizures, but from what I understand that's extraordinarily rare. I don't just mean it's rare in clinical trials and research. None of the physicians I've worked with have seen changes in seizure activity following years of SSRI use. The research in that area has also seemed to have petered out without an obvious mechanism or associated population to further explore.

The closest thing I can think of is high dose stimulants causing tonic clinic seizures, but I'd be curious if the unintentional hyperactivity of neurons in stimulants is physiologically similar to increasing oscillatory activity.

I'm not an expert in antiepileptics though so it'd be nice to get some more perspectives here