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James R. Brorson, MD
Department of Neurology The University of Chicago 947 E 58th St Chicago, IL 60615

Arch Neurol. 1991;48(7):677.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.

—In the September 1990 issue of the ARCHIVES, Kaplan et al¹ discount the use of magnesium sulfate for eclamptic seizures for two reasons: first, magnesium sulfate has not been shown to be as effective as phenytoin in a controlled clinical trial, and second, "magnesium sulfate has no anticonvulsant properties. It could only be argued in a more general sense that... magnesium sulfate might prevent secondary seizures." While agreeing wholeheartedly with their first point, I would like to suggest that the experimental basis for a possible anticonvulsant action of the magnesium ion (Mg⁺⁺), as well as for its antiepileptic properties, is stronger than the authors allow.

Hippocampal slice models of epilepsy have shown that the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) subtype of glutamate receptor, which is the type blocked by Mg⁺⁺, is involved in epileptogenesis (ie, the generation of a state prone to seizurelike uncontrolled discharges). In . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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