Aberrant epilepsy-associated mutant Nav1.6 sodium channel activity can be targeted with cannabidiol.

ABSTRACT: Mutations in brain isoforms of voltage-gated sodium channels have been identified in patients with distinct epileptic phenotypes. Clinically, these patients often do not respond well to classic anti-epileptics and many remain refractory to treatment. Exogenous as well as endogenous cannabinoids have been shown to target voltage-gated sodium channels and cannabidiol has recently received attention for its potential efficacy in the treatment of childhood epilepsies. In this study, we further investigated the ability of cannabinoids to modulate sodium currents from wild-type and epilepsy-associated mutant voltage-gated sodium channels. We first determined the biophysical consequences of epilepsy-associated missense mutations in both Nav1.1 (arginine 1648 to histidine and asparagine 1788 to ly

SUBMITTER: Patel RR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4958898 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature