Published in:
01-09-2017 | Pioneers in Neurology
Phenytoin: a step by step insight into its multiple mechanisms of action—80 years of mechanistic studies in neuropharmacology
Author:
Jan M. Keppel Hesselink
Published in:
Journal of Neurology
|
Issue 9/2017
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Excerpt
In drug development, there is a general consensus that ‘mechanism matters’ [
1]. The story of how scientists defined the mechanism of action of phenytoin during its 80 years history is, therefore, relevant, because it adds a new context to the philosophy of ‘mechanism matters’, a concept that is in need of some fine tuning. In this article, we will focus exclusively on the progress of insight related to the pharmacological targets of phenytoin, and we will not discuss the physiological complexities related to the voltage dependency of phenytoin’s sodium channel blocking actions, reviewed extensively by Yaari et al. [
2]. …