This review focuses on basic scientific and clinical data concerning the effects of female gonadal and adrenal steroid hormones, as well as their related neuropeptides, on neuronal excitability and seizures, and on hormonal and hormonally derived treatments for epilepsy. HORMONAL EFFECTS ON NEURONAL EXCITABILITY AND SEIZURES: ANIMAL DATAGonadal and adrenal steroids act in the brain by longlatency receptor-mediated genomic and post-transcriptional mechanisms and by short-latency direct membrane-mediated actions (1,2). These steroids have wideranging influences on neuronal excitability and seizures in animal models (3). EstrogensPhysiologic and pharmacologic doses of estrogens lower seizure thresholds in most adult animal seizure models (4-8). However, ovariectomy in adult rats does not alter seizure threshold (5). Therefore, whereas estro-

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