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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Veterinary Neurology and Neurosurgery
Volume 12 - 2025 |
doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1518379
This article is part of the Research Topic Epilepsy in Veterinary Science - Volume II View all 5 articles
Extended release huperzine for the treatment of idiopathic epilepsy in dogs -a case series
Provisionally accepted- Veterinary Referral Hospital, Dandenong, Australia
Huperzine is a naturally occurring alkaloid derived from the Chinese clubmoss Huperzia serrata. It is a potent acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, amongst other properties, and has demonstrated protection against induced seizures in a mouse model of Dravet's syndrome as well as nerve-agent induced seizures and is being explored as a novel anticonvulsant in a human clinical trial for focal impaired awareness seizures. It is also being explored as a treatment for Alzheimer's, via neuroprotective effects and an ability to ameliorate neuroinflammation. Here we present a case series of 6 dogs with idiopathic epilepsy treated with huperzine to investigate this potential novel anticonvulsant. Despite a 50% drop out rate over the course of the study due to various causes including unexplained death, humane euthanasia and systemic disease, huperzine was generally well tolerated and showed some positive effects on demeanour. This study highlights the need for more research to investigate its efficacy as a novel antiepileptic medication in dogs.
Keywords: Huperzine, idiopathic epilepsy, anti-epileptic drugs, case series, anticonvulsant
Received: 28 Oct 2024; Accepted: 16 Jan 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Grant and Long. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Kylie Grant, Veterinary Referral Hospital, Dandenong, Australia
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