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We have previously shown that the novel anticonvulsant levetiracetam exerts potent anticonvulsant activity against both focal and secondarily generalized seizures in fully amygdala-kindled rats,i.e., a model of temporal lobe epilepsy. We examined whether levetiracetam also exhibits antiepileptogenic activity,i.e., prevents or retards acquisition or development of amygdala-kindling in rats. Before the experiments with chronic administration of levetiracetam at different doses, we determined the pharmacokinetics of the drug after i.p. injection. Levetiracetam had a relatively short half-life (about 2-3 hr) in rats, so that any lasting effects of the drug after chronic administration were certainly not due to drug accumulation. When rats were treated with levetiracetam during kindling acquisition at daily i.p. doses of 13, 27 or 54 mg/kg, the drug dose-dependently suppressed the increase in seizure severity and duration induced …