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Background: Permeability of the blood-brain barrier is one of the factors determining the bioavailability of therapeutic drugs and resistance to chemically different antiepileptic drugs is a consequence of decreased intracerebral accumulation. The ABC transporters, particularly P-glycoprotein, are known to play a role in antiepileptic drug extrusion, but are not by themselves sufficient to fully explain the phenomenon of drug-resistant epilepsy. Proteomic analyses of membrane protein differentially expressed in epileptic foci brain tissue revealed the frequently increased expression of RLIP76/RALBP1, a recently described non-ABC multi-specific transporter. Because of a significant overlap in substrates between P-glycoprotein and RLIP76, present studies were carried out to determine the potential role of RLIP76 in AED transport in the brain., Results: RLIP76 was expressed in brain tissue, preferentially in the lumenal surface of endothelial cell membranes. The expression was most prominent in blood brain barrier tissue from excised epileptic foci. Saturable, energy-dependent, anti-gradient transport of both phenytoin and carbamazepine were demonstrated using recombinant RLIP76 reconstituted into artificial membrane liposomes. Immunotitration studies of transport activity in crude membrane vesicles prepared from whole-brain tissue endothelium showed that RLIP76 represented the dominant transport mechanism for both drugs. RLIP76-/- knockout mice exhibited dramatic toxicity upon phenytoin administration due to decreased drug extrusion mechanisms at the blood-brain barrier., Conclusion: We conclude that RLIP76 is the predominant transporter of AED in the blood brain barrier, and that it may be a transporter involved in mechanisms of drug-resistant epilepsy.

Background: The multiple drug resistance protein (MDR1/P-glycoprotein) is overexpressed in glia and blood-brain barrier (BBB) endothelium in drug refractory human epileptic tissue. Since various antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) can act as substrates for MDR1, the enhanced expression/function of this protein may increase their active extrusion from the brain, resulting in decreased responsiveness to AEDs., Methods: Human drug resistant epileptic brain tissues were collected after surgical resection. Astrocyte cell cultures were established from these tissues, and commercially available normal human astrocytes were used as controls. Uptake of fluorescent doxorubicin and radioactive-labeled Phenytoin was measured in the two cell populations, and the effect of MDR1 blockers was evaluated. Frozen human epileptic brain tissue slices were double immunostained to locate MDR1 in neurons and glia. Other slices were exposed to toxic concentrations of Phenytoin to study cell viability in the presence or absence of a specific MDR1 blocker., Results: MDR1 was overexpressed in blood vessels, astrocytes and neurons in human epileptic drug-resistant brain. In addition, MDR1-mediated cellular drug extrusion was increased in human 'epileptic' astrocytes compared to 'normal' ones. Concomitantly, cell viability in the presence of cytotoxic compounds was increased., Conclusions: Overexpression of MDR1 in different cell types in drug-resistant epileptic human brain leads to functional alterations, not all of which are linked to drug pharmacokinetics. In particular, the modulation of glioneuronal MDR1 function in epileptic brain in the presence of toxic concentrations of xenobiotics may constitute a novel cytoprotective mechanism.