Anavex Life Sciences Corp (AVXL)

[XenaLives]

Does anyone else remember the picture of the poor Rett Syndrome girl with the deformed mouth? I don't remember where we saw it but I can't get it out of my mind.

While researching something else I found out that it is a likely side effect of anti convulsant drugs. One more reason why 2-73 needs to help these girls.

Also note that anti-hypertensive drugs has the same effect. It seems that 2-73 can go for that market too.

Introduction

Drug-induced gingival enlargement is the term now used to describe medication-related gingival hypertrophy or hyperplasia, a condition commonly induced by three main classes of drugs: anticonvulsants, antihypertensive calcium channel blockers, and immune suppressants. The pathogenesis of drug-induced gingival enlargement is uncertain and there appears to be no unifying hypothesis that links together the three commonly implicated drugs. Various risk factors and etiologic agents like age, drug doses, genetic factors, plaque-induced inflammation, etc. have been proposed. [1]

This condition brings major change in the quality of life for the patient as it interferes with esthetics and function.

Among the anticonvulsants, gingival enlargement is seen mostly with phenytoin (diphenylhydantoin). The other anticonvulsants that have the same effect are vigabatrin, sodium valproate, primidone, and phenobarbital [Figure - 1]. [2] {Figure 1}

This condition was first reported in 1939 by Kimball with chronic usage of the anti-epileptic drug, phenytoin. The histopathologic appearance of the various cases of drug-induced gingival enlargement is similar, regardless of the initiating drug. Several changes have been observed in both epithelium and connective tissue in drug-induced gingival overgrowth.

The mechanism of pathogenesis of gingival enlargement is an enigma that has intrigued researchers for decades. Some studies have found a positive correlation between plaque scores and the severity of gingival overgrowth. [3]

http://medind.nic.in/jay/t12/i2/jayt12i2p278.htm