Voltage‐gated Na+ channels and epilepsy

Voltage‐gated Na+ (NaV) channels are key mediators of neuronal function and essential for neuronal excitability. Their abnormal activity is implicated in the generation of seizures, both in acquired and genetic epilepsy. Several of the most widely used antiepileptic drugs inhibit NaV activity by binding to a common receptor site. For an expanded treatment of this topic see Jasper’s Basic Mechanisms of the Epilepsies, Fourth Edition (Noebels JL, Avoli M, Rogawski MA, Olsen RW, Delgado‐Escueta AV, eds) published by Oxford University Press (available on the National Library of Medicine Bookshelf [NCBI] at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books).