Title:Fruits for Seizures? A Systematic Review on the Potential Anti-Convulsant
Effects of Fruits and their Phytochemicals
Volume: 20
Issue: 10
Author(s): Lee Hsien Siang, Alina Arulsamy, Yeong Keng Yoon and Mohd. Farooq Shaikh*
Affiliation:
- Neuropharmacology Research
Laboratory, Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Monash University Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia
Keywords:
Epilepsy, drug-resistant, fruit extract, anti-seizure, pro-convulsant, anti-oxidant.
Abstract: Epilepsy is a devastating neurological disorder. Current anti-convulsant drugs are only
effective in about 70% of patients, while the rest remain drug-resistant. Thus, alternative methods
have been explored to control seizures in these drug-resistant patients. One such method may be
through the utilization of fruit phytochemicals. These phytochemicals have been reported to have
beneficial properties such as anti-convulsant, anti-oxidant, and anti-inflammatory activities. However,
some fruits may also elicit harmful effects. This review aims to summarize and elucidate the anti-
or pro-convulsant effects of fruits used in relation to seizures in hopes of providing a good therapeutic
reference to epileptic patients and their carers. Three databases, SCOPUS, ScienceDirect, and
PubMed, were utilized for the literature search. Based on the PRISMA guidelines, a total of 40 articles
were selected for critical appraisal in this review. Overall, the extracts and phytochemicals of
fruits managed to effectively reduce seizure activities in various preclinical seizure models, acting
mainly through the activation of the inhibitory neurotransmission and blocking the excitatory neurotransmission.
Only star fruit has been identified as a pro-convulsant fruit due to its caramboxin and
oxalate compounds. Future studies should focus more on utilizing these fruits as possible treatment
strategies for epilepsy.