Title:Levetiracetam might act as an efficacious drug to attenuate cognitive deficits of Alzheimer’s disease
Volume: 16
Issue: 5
Author(s): Rong Xiao
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Alzheimer's disease, Cognition deficits, Epileptic seizures, Levetiracetam.
Abstract: Levetiracetam is a homologue of piracetam with an a-ethyl side-chain substitution and it is
a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved antiepileptic drug. Recently, several studies have
found that levetiracetam was able to reduce seizure frequency in epileptic seizures patients without affecting
their cognitive functions. In the present review, the effects of levetiracetam on cognitive improvement
were summarized in epileptic seizures patients with or without Alzheimer's disease (AD),
high-grade glioma (HGG) patients and amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) patients. In addition,
levetiracetam was observed to improve the cognitive deficits in normal aged animals and the
transgenic animal models with AD, suggesting that levetiracetam may be a better choice for the
prevention or treatment of AD.