How an Atkins-like diet can treat epilepsy: Leptin attenuates rodent seizure severity

However, the mechanisms whereby ketogenic diets suppress epileptic symptoms have long been a mystery. New data generated by Kelvin Yamada and colleagues at the Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, has revealed that intranasal delivery of leptin, a hormone important in feeding and energy metabolism, delayed the onset of convulsions in a rodent model of seizures.

As indicated by Tamas Horvath and Sabrina Diano in an accompanying commentary, these data suggest that leptin-triggered signaling may be a key to how a ketogenic diet combats epilepsy.

In the study, when focal seizures were induced by injection of the chemical 4AP into rat brains, co-injection of leptin reduced both the length and the frequency of these seizures. Intranasal administration permitted leptin to cross the blood-brain barrier and delay the onset of chemical-induced generalized seizures in mice.

Additional experiments revealed that leptin may assert these antiseizure effects via interaction with the JAK2/PI3K signaling pathway. The authors concluded that successful epilepsy treatments may include dietary changes to increase leptin levels, intranasal administration of the compound, and pharmacological targeting of JAK2/PI3K signaling pathways.

Source: Journal of Clinical Investigation