Vigabatrin inhibits seizures and mTOR pathway activation in a mouse model of tuberous sclerosis complex

PLoS One. 2013;8(2):e57445. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0057445. Epub 2013 Feb 20.

Abstract

Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder and cause of significant morbidity and mortality. Although antiseizure medication is the first-line treatment for epilepsy, currently available medications are ineffective in a significant percentage of patients and have not clearly been demonstrated to have disease-specific effects for epilepsy. While seizures are usually intractable to medication in tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC), a common genetic cause of epilepsy, vigabatrin appears to have unique efficacy for epilepsy in TSC. While vigabatrin increases gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) levels, the precise mechanism of action of vigabatrin in TSC is not known. In this study, we investigated the effects of vigabatrin on epilepsy in a knock-out mouse model of TSC and tested the novel hypothesis that vigabatrin inhibits the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway, a key signaling pathway that is dysregulated in TSC. We found that vigabatrin caused a modest increase in brain GABA levels and inhibited seizures in the mouse model of TSC. Furthermore, vigabatrin partially inhibited mTOR pathway activity and glial proliferation in the knock-out mice in vivo, as well as reduced mTOR pathway activation in cultured astrocytes from both knock-out and control mice. This study identifies a potential novel mechanism of action of an antiseizure medication involving the mTOR pathway, which may account for the unique efficacy of this drug for a genetic epilepsy.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Anticonvulsants / pharmacology*
  • Astrocytes / drug effects*
  • Astrocytes / metabolism
  • Astrocytes / pathology
  • Brain / drug effects*
  • Brain / metabolism
  • Cell Proliferation / drug effects
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Gene Expression Regulation / drug effects
  • Humans
  • Mice
  • Mice, Knockout
  • Seizures / drug therapy*
  • Seizures / genetics
  • Seizures / metabolism
  • Seizures / pathology
  • Signal Transduction / drug effects
  • TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases / antagonists & inhibitors
  • TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases / genetics*
  • TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases / metabolism
  • Tuberous Sclerosis / drug therapy*
  • Tuberous Sclerosis / genetics
  • Tuberous Sclerosis / metabolism
  • Tuberous Sclerosis / pathology
  • Tuberous Sclerosis Complex 1 Protein
  • Tumor Suppressor Proteins / deficiency
  • Tumor Suppressor Proteins / genetics
  • Vigabatrin / pharmacology*
  • gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / biosynthesis

Substances

  • Anticonvulsants
  • Tuberous Sclerosis Complex 1 Protein
  • Tumor Suppressor Proteins
  • gamma-Aminobutyric Acid
  • mTOR protein, mouse
  • TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases
  • Vigabatrin