Estrogen acts as a proconvulsant in several animal models of epilepsy, including amygdalal kindling and pentylenetetrazol administration in ovariectomized rats (Hom and Buterbaugh, 1986). Estrogen induces the formation of new excitatory synapses in the CA1 region of the hippocampus; and further, this estrogenic induction involves activation of Nmethyl- Daspartate (NMDA) receptors (McEwen, 2002). Increasing the complexity of hippocampal synaptic density is likely a mechanism for the proconvulsant activity of estrogen. Standard hormone replacement in postmenopausal women with epilepsy, which includes estrogen and a progestin, can be postulated to have an effect on seizures that is more evident than that of oral contraceptives in cycling women with epilepsy. This.
