ANTICONVULSANTDRUGS

Anticonvulsant drugs may be divided into four classes, based on their most likely mechanism of action. Although it may be premature to assign a mechanism of action to some of these compounds, the proposed classes are a convenient way to group the drugs. Furthermore, the classes themselves may have rele-vance, since compounds in a particular category are often used for the same clinical indication. For a proposed mechanism of action to be considered relevant for a given drug, the effect must occur at concentrations similar to those that are likely to be achieved therapeutically.