Nanoformulations of Antiepileptic Drugs: In Vitro and In Vivo Studies

Abstract

Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder that represents a unique therapeutic challenge displaying high population incidence with more than 60 million people worldwide. Nearly 70% of people are provisionally responding to the treatment, but 20?60% of patients become resistant to current antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) (Epilepsy. WHO Fact Sheet No 999, 2015). Also, there is a negative social impact of the pathology since patients and their families suffer stigma and discrimination in many parts of the world. Furthermore, patients who positively respond to the anticonvulsant treatment are subjected to high systemic concentrations of drugs to achieve therapeutically effective levels at the site of action in the central nervous system (CNS), which results in undesirable side effects that threaten their quality of life and their adherence to the treatment.