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Dravet syndrome is a rare, but catastrophic genetic epilepsy that is diagnosed in the first year of life. Approximately 80% of patients with DS carry a mutation in the SCN1A gene, which encodes for the voltage-gated sodium channel, Nav1.1. Currently, no anti-seizure drug (ASD) exists that adequately controls seizures. Patients with DS often present clinically with a febrile seizure and generalized tonic-clonic seizures that continue throughout life. To facilitate the development of ASDs for DS, the contract site of the NINDS Epilepsy Therapy Screening Program (ETSP) has evaluated a mouse model of DS, the conditional Scn1a*A1783V mouse. The heterozygous offspring have a 50% survival rate and all have hyperthermia-induced seizures, which mimic clinical afebrile seizures. Several prototype ASDs were administered via intraperitoneal injections at the time-to-peak effect, which was previously determined before the induction of a hyperthermia-induced seizure. The results suggest that hyperthermia-induced seizures in this model of DS are highly refractory to a battery of ASDs. Exceptions were clobazam and the combination of clobazam and valproic acid with add-on stiripentol, which elevated seizure thresholds. In addition, clobazam and carbamazepine were administered once a week over 4 weeks to demonstrate their effect on hyperthermia-induced seizures was consistent. Clobazam and carbamazepine consistently increased and lowered temperature thresholds, respectively. Overall, the data demonstrate the proposed model for DS is suitable for screening novel compounds for the ability to block hyperthermia-induced seizures and heterozygous mice can be evaluated repeatedly over the course of several weeks, allowing for higher throughput screening.
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