SOME HETEROCYCLICS WITH ANTICONVULSANT PROPERTIES

The anticonvulsants are Food and Drug Administration approved, for the prevention and/or treatment of various seizure disorders either as monotherapy or adjunctive therapy. The goal of an anticonvulsant is to suppress the rapid and excessive firing of neurons that start a seizure. Due to the non-selectivity of the anticonvulsants and the undesirable side effects posed by them the use of current antiepileptic drugs has been questioned. This led to an intensive investigation in this area worldwide during the past 10 years. As far as drug efficacy and safety is concerned there have been some significant outcomes and the findings are promising. This review covers the brief description of epilepsy and various heterocyclic moieties that have shown encouraging anticonvulsant activity and less neurotoxicity. {Corresspondence to Dr. Nadeem Siddiqui, Professor & Head, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Jamia Hamdard, Hamdard Nagar, New Delhi, India - nadeems_03@yahoo.co.in}