JERUSALEM, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Israeli researchers have discovered that a drug for multiple sclerosis (MP) can help epilepsy patients, Tel Aviv University (TAU) in central Israel reported on Tuesday.
The findings could serve as a basis for developing drugs for a wide range of neurological diseases, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, which, like epilepsy, are characterized by an imbalance of brain activity.
The important discovery of the researchers, published in the journal Neuron, stems from a breakthrough solving the question that what is the mechanism regulating brain activity and maintains its stability, a 100-year-old puzzle.
Since the end of the 19th century, scientists has begun to look for the mechanism responsible for the body's ability to maintain a stable internal environment, despite changes in the external environment.
To solve the problem, the Israeli researchers focused on epilepsy, which is characterized by hyperactivity of neural networks in the hippocampus area of the brain.
After a series of tests, they discovered that a drug used to treat MS could "fix" the balance point and returned it to a normal level.
The researchers explained that this is like changing the temperature of an air conditioning thermostat to bring it to the desired level.
The researchers added that drugs based on the new principle could give a hope to 30-40 percent of epilepsy patients who do not respond to existing therapies.
