Abstract

Temporal lobe epilepsy is the most common form of epilepsy and also the most intractable. Gene therapy provides a promising alternative for treating seizures that are unresponsive to current medical treatment. Our study involved the use of adeno-associated viral vectors (AAV) to deliver the neuropeptide Somatostatin (SST) directly into the rat brain and subsequently tested its efficacy in an electrical kindling model of epilepsy. Our results showed prevention of secondarily generalized seizures in 70% of SST over-expressing animals, with no accompanying inflammatory response. This is the first demonstration of a putative role for SST as an anticonvulsant therapeutic modality for epilepsy in vivo.