NAD+: New natural treatment for epilepsy?

The  mechanisms of  seizures in epilepsy are poorly understood, and no effective
therapy exists for suppressing epilepsy. A study published in 2017 by Liu & colleagues, examined the ability of a natural supplement called NAD+ (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) to reduce the incidence of epilepsy. NAD+ is the natural chemical found in the brain that is involved in the synthesis of energy within parts of every living cell (in an organelle called mitocondria). Numerous research studies have shown that NAD+ has neuroprotective effects, suggesting its potential use for treating the onset of seizures. The study induced seizures in mice and then injected the mice 3 times within 24 hours with NAD+. They found that the NAD+ intervention significantly reduced the incidence of spontaneous recurrent seizure and abnormal electroencephalogram (EEG) activity. It also  reduced neuronal loss in  hippocampus, which is the region of the brain involved in memory. Furthermore,  injections of NAD+ distinctly reversed the seizure-induced depletion of
normal NAD+ and reduced brain cell death in the hippocampus. The findings demonstrated that early-stage intervention with NAD+ prevents the formation of epilepsy and seizures by suppressing the death of brain cells. This research has potentially huge implications for the treatment of epilepsy in humans, particularly in the relation to potentially even stopping the onset of epilepsy following head injury. Further research needs to be done into the applications of this naturally found brain chemical and its neuroprotective factors in clinical populations. Currently NAD+ is used non-clinically in anti-ageing clinics around the world and is seen as a miracle drug in this area, however the benefits seem to potentially be a lot deeper than skin level.

Liu, J., Yang, B., Zhou, P., Kong, Y., Hu, W., Zhu, G., . . . Li, S. (2017). Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide suppresses epileptogenesis at an early stage. Scientific Reports (Nature Publisher Group), 7, 1-10. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-07343-0