Anticonvulsant
(redirected from Antiepileptic drugs)Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical.
anticonvulsant
[‚an·tē·kən′vəl·sənt] (pharmacology)
An agent, such as Dilantin, that prevents or arrests a convulsion.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Anticonvulsant
one of a group of medicinal preparations having different chemical compositions and capable of preventing or relieving convulsions. Anticonvulsants include a number of substances that act as hypnotics and sedatives, for instance, bromides, chloral hydrate, magnesium sulfate, and phenobarbital. Other substances are selectively anticonvulsant, for example, diphenin, Hexamidine (lepsiral), Trimethin (epidione), and chloracon. Anticonvulsants are used mainly in treating epilepsy.
REFERENCE
Mashkovskii, M. D. Lekarstvennye sredstva, 7th ed., part 1. Moscow, 1972.The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.