Title: Protecting the Neurovascular Unit: Losartan as a Disease-Modifying Strategy in Experimental Epilepsy

Speaker: Moussa Hamati, PhD Student, Department of Medical Neuroscience, Dalhousie University

Date: Tuesday, April 21st, 2026,

Time: 11:30am - 12:30pm  

Location: 3H-01  [IN-PERSON meeting]

Description: Epilepsy affects approximately 50 million people worldwide, and nearly one-third of patients remain resistant to current anti-seizure medications. Increasing evidence suggests that dysfunction of the blood–brain barrier (BBB) plays a key role in epileptogenesis by allowing albumin to enter the brain and activate inflammatory signaling pathways that disrupt astrocytic homeostasis and promote neuronal hyperexcitability.

In this seminar, we will present recent findings on the therapeutic potential of the angiotensin II receptor blocker losartan in a rat model of drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy. Using EEG recordings, immunohistochemistry, and mass spectrometry, we show that losartan reduces spontaneous seizures, interictal EEG abnormalities, and BBB leakage. Mechanistically, losartan limits cellular albumin uptake, preserves astrocyte–vascular interactions, and maintains Aquaporin-4 localization, thereby improving neurovascular unit function.

Although losartan does not directly suppress acute seizures, our findings suggest that it reduces neuronal hyperexcitability and may act as a disease-modifying therapy for drug-resistant epilepsy. These results highlight the neurovascular unit as a promising therapeutic target in epilepsy.