HORMONES AND GENDER | Hormones and Epilepsy

Seizures that fluctuate with the menstrual cycle, or catamenial seizures, occur in about one-third of women with epilepsy. There are three patterns of catamenial epilepsy. In each, seizure frequency increases when circulating estrogen is high and progesterone is low. Animal studies consistently show that progesterone is anticonvulsant, whereas estrogen can be either pro- or anticonvulsant – depending on the duration of hormone exposure and brain areas involved. Understanding the cellular and circuit level mechanisms by which progesterone and estrogen influence excitatory glutamatergic, inhibitory GABAergic, and neuropeptidergic systems in seizure-prone neural circuits can help to identify targets for new antiseizure therapies.