Histamine as an Anticonvulsant Inhibitory Neurotransmitter

This review presents a link between histamine and epilepsy and provides the experimental evidence available so far on the effect of histamine and histaminergic agents in various seizure models. Agents that deplete brain histamine potentiate experimental convulsions while those enhancing tend to have anticonvulsant effects. Such effects are shown to be mediated via H1 and / or H3 but not H2 receptors. Lately, a large number of selective ligands for H3-receptors have been developed. Antagonists of these receptors have shown encouraging anticonvulsant effects in animal models and hold promise for potential therapeutic applications.