Magnolia Bark Compound may Treat Drug-resistant Epilepsy

Magnolia bark may help treat patients with epilepsy where normal neurological activity becomes interrupted. Now, researchers have identified a potential new treatment for this disorder by turning to traditional Chinese medicine, according to the study published in ACS Chemical Neuroscience.

Tests of extracts from plants used in these ancient remedies led the team to one compound, derived from a magnolia tree, that could quell drug-resistant seizures in both fish and mice.

‘Magnolia bark's most potent anti-seizure compound, magnolol, has potential to reduce the drug-resistant seizures.’
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Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological diseases worldwide, and the World Health Organization estimates that about 50 million people have the disorder. Medications are available, but they don’t help everyone.

Research suggests that about 70% of patients with epilepsy can control it well with medication, leaving many patients without effective treatment. But even when they work, the drugs can cause a range of side effects, from dizziness to mood disruptions.

To look for new drug leads that could help even those patients who don’t respond to conventional anti-seizure medications, Peter de Witte and colleagues set their sights on plants used in traditional Chinese medicine.

Sleep Disorders Associated with Epilepsy
Epilepsy and sleep disorders have a profound effect on each other. Epileptic seizures can disturb sleep; sleep disorders like sleep apnea, RLS can aggravate seizures.

The team collected 14 plants used in traditional Chinese medicine anti-seizure remedies. They then tested the plants’ extracts in two types of zebrafish with epileptic-like seizures, one of which could respond to conventional anti-seizure medications, whereas the other type could not.

Only extracts from the bark of Magnolia officinalis, a tree native to China, reduced seizure-like behavior in both types of fish.

In tests with mice, the researchers found that the magnolia bark’s most potent anti-seizure compound, magnolol, reduced the rodents’ otherwise drug-resistant seizures.

It and similar compounds in magnolia bark could provide a starting point for the development of treatments for resistant epilepsy, according to the researchers.

Source-Eurekalert