The Sodium Valproate: Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde

Abstract

The sodium valproate (VPA) is a very simple structural compound derived from the valeric acid produced by a plant “Valeriana officinalis†. Extract s of this this plant were used by the doctors of Ancient Greece to cure insomnia and by the Romans to treat palpitations and arrhythmia. VPA was used for the first time as an anticonvulsant in 1963 [1] and in 1974 Jevson and Clark [2] after their clinical study on 63 patients whom 40 of them had failed to respond to other anticonvulsants concluded that in 43% of patients, epilepsy stopped completely, and in 22% of patients, the attacks were reduced by 50%. An unusual side effect was temporary hair loss. Since then VPA is widely used to treat almost all types of seizures and epilepsy syndromes, and is used successfully, for patients displaying epilepsy resistant to other medications [3]. Behind its anticonvulsants effect, VPA targets also a wide range of neurological diseases including some neurodegenerative pathologies, addiction, bipolar and obsessive-compulsive disorders and migraine [4].