1043-3155 Pediatr Neurol Briefs pedneurbriefs Pediatr Neurol Briefs Pediatric Neurology Briefs Pediatr Neurol Briefs 2166-6482 1043-3155 2166-3155 Pediatric Neurology Briefs Publishers Chicago, IL, USA PNB-17-06-b 10.15844/pedneurbriefs-17-1-8 Attention, Learning and Comorbid Disorders Neurology Pediatrics Nervous System Diseases Child Development Brain Diseases Neurosurgery Child Infant Effect of Levetiracetam on Motor Learning http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0173-7931 Millichap J. Gordon MD 1 2 * Division of Neurology, Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago, IL Departments of Pediatrics and Neurology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL Correspondence: Dr. J. Gordon Millichap, E-mail: jgmillichap@northwestern.edu 01 2003 01 03 2016 17 1 6 7 Copyright: © 2003 The Author(s) 2003 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Effect of levetiracetam on rapid motor learning in humans

The effect of the antiepileptic drug, levetiracetam, on rapid motor learning was tested in 10 healthy, right-handed volunteers (age, 22 to 43 years) by investigators from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, and Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea.

 Antiepileptic Drug Levetiracetam Rapid Motor Learning

The effect of the antiepileptic drug, levetiracetam, on rapid motor learning was tested in 10 healthy, right-handed volunteers (age, 22 to 43 years) by investigators from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, and Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea. Maximum pinch force of the left thumb and index finger was determined by a pinch gauge, and the average pinch force of 5 trials was calculated before and after 30 minutes of practice at 0.5 Hz. Either 3000 mg of levetiracetam or placebo was administered 1 hour before the experiment. With placebo, pinch practice significantly increased pinch acceleration (152% +/-14%), but no increase was observed after levetiracetam (101%+/-14%). [1]

COMMENT. Levetiracetam, a suppressant of motor cortex excitability, may interfere with rapid motor learning when administered to normal volunteers in a single daily dose. Previous studies (cited by the authors) have shown that this adverse effect on practice-related motor cortex plasticity is not observed with the AED, lamotrigine, although it too suppresses motor cortex excitability. These results may not apply to patients receiving long-term AED therapy.

In a clinical study of the effectiveness of levetiracetam in partial epilepsies, patients who were older at the onset of seizures did better than those with younger onset (51 vs 27 years). Also, patients with temporal lobe seizures were better controlled than those with frontal lobe localization. [2]

Sohn YH Jung HY Kaelin-Lang A Hallett M Effect of levetiracetam on rapid motor learning in humans Arch Neurol 2002 Dec 59 12 1909 12 10.1001/archneur.59.12.1909 12470179 Bazil CW Rose A Resor S Yapicular B Hirsch LJ Levetiracetam may be more effective for late-onset partial epilepsy Arch Neurol 2002 Dec 59 12 1905 8 10.1001/archneur.59.12.1905 12470178