Fig. 8: Kv7 activation rescues juvenile seizure-related death and open-field hyperactivity in Ank2-cKO mice.

a, b Chronic retigabine treatment (from P16–17) improves juvenile seizure-related death of Ank2-cKO mice without affecting WT mice. (n = 11 mice [WT-Veh/vehicle], 12 [WT-RTG/retigabine], 16 [cKO-Veh], 10 [cKO-RTG], Log-rank test). c, d Cessation of chronic retigabine treatment at around ~P42 (~26 days after the initiation of retigabine treatment) eliminates the treatment effect of retigabine on juvenile seizure-related death in Ank2-cKO mice. (n = 14 mice [cKO-Veh], 13 [cKO-RTG], Log-rank test). e–g Chronic retigabine treatment (from P16–17) does not improve hyperactivity or anxiety-like behavior (center time) of Ank2-cKO mice in the open-field test. (n = 11 mice [WT-Veh], 12 [WT-RTG], 11 [cKO-Veh], 10 [cKO-RTG], two-way ANOVA with Tukey test). h–k Acute retigabine treatment (5 mg/kg) at P21/22 improves hyperactivity but not anxiety-like behavior (center time) of Ank2-cKO mice in the open-field test. Drug treatment groups were divided into two (retigabine/saline first) to minimize cross-treatment effects. (n = 13 mice [WT-Veh], 15 [WT-RTG], 16 [cKO-Veh], 17 [cKO-RTG], two-way ANOVA with Tukey’s test [distance moved_4min], Sidak’s test [distance moved_total]). The statistical tests involved two-sided analyses, and adjustments were made for multiple comparisons. Data are presented as mean values +/− SEM. P-values in figure panels: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ns, not significant.