Table 1.

Overview of frequency responses to antiepileptic drugs

Drug	Mechanism	Frequency effect	Sample	Study (year)
Ethosuximide	Calcium channels: blockade of low voltage-activated channel	– δ, + α	6 patients	Rosadini and Sannita (1978) [22]
Diphenylhydantoin	Sodium channels: blockade by stabilizing fast-inactivated state	Nothing	5 patients	Rosadini and Sannita (1978) [22]
Carbamazepine	Sodium channels: blockade by stabilizing fast-inactivated state	+ δθ	45 uncontrolled partial and generalized epilepsy patients	Wilkus et al. (1978) [26]
		+ General, + δθ, – α	10 untreated patients	Besser et al. (1992) [42]
		Mild slowing	15 healthy subjects	Meador et al. (1993) [43]
		+ δθ, slowing	31 healthy, 6 patients	Salinsky et al. (1994) [39]
		– PF	16 untreated children	Frost et al. (1995) [71]
		+ θ, – uα	10 healthy, 10 patients	Wu and Xiao (1996) [38]
		+ δθ, – PF	11 healthy	Salinsky et al. (2002) [37]
		+ δθ, – α	20 difficult-to-treat partial epilepsy patients	Clemens et al. (2004) [41]
		+ θ, – PF	41 untreated patients	Clemens et al. (2006) [40]
		+ θ, – α, + P3 latency	60 healthy	Meador et al. (2016) [55]
Phenytoin	Sodium channels: blockade by stabilizing fast-inactivated state	– δθ, + αβ	12 healthy males	Fink et al. (1979) [85]
		+ δθ	27 patients	Herkes et al. (1993) [44]
		Mild slowing	15 healthy subjects	Meador et al. (1993) [43]
		– α	7 healthy	Chung et al. (2002) [52]
Clonazepam	Benzodiazepine; activation of GABAA receptor	+ β	21 children with epilepsy	Dumermuth et al. (1983) [67]
		+ Fast activity	4 children with epilepsy	Wang and Wang (2002) [49]
Milazemide	Increasing glycine concentrations	– δ, + α, + PF	12 healthy	Saletu and Grünberger (1984) [34]
Gabapentin	Calcium channels: blockade of high voltage activated channel	– General, + δθ, – α	10 healthy	Saletu et al., (1986) [72]
		+ δθ, – PF	12 healthy	Salinsky et al. (2002) [37]
Valproate	Synaptic vesicle protein 2A actions	– General, – uαβγ	10 untreated patients	Sannita et al. (1989) [35]
		+ Power of PF	12 patients, 12 healthy	Wu and Ma (1993) [48]
		+ General, – uαβ	12 patients	Sannita et al. (1993) [45]
		+ uα, – β	10 untreated patients	Wu and Xiao (1997) [46]
		Nothing	4 long-term treated children	Wang and Wang (2002) [49]
		– δθα	42 untreated patients	Clemens et al. (2006) [40]
Oxcarbazepine	Sodium channels: blockade by stabilizing fast-inactivated state	– PF	9 untreated patients	Clemens et al. (2006) [40]
Lamotrigine	Sodium channels: blockade by stabilizing fast-inactivated state	– δθαβ, +PF	25 untreated patients	Clemens et al. (2006) [40]
Lacosamide	Sodium channels: blockade by stabilizing slow-inactivated state	+ θ, – α	41 healthy	Meador et al. (2016) [55]

Drugs are ordered by chronological order of pharmaco-electroencephalography research conducted with the respective drug

Frequency ranges are according to the definitions in the referenced articles

α alpha 8–12 Hz, β beta 13–30 Hz, γ gamma > 30 Hz, δ delta ≤ 4 Hz, θ theta 5–7 Hz, GABA γ-aminobutyric acid, general broadband, nothing no effects detected, PF peak frequency, uα upper α 10–13 Hz, + indicates increase in activity, – indicates decrease in activity