epilepsy

The channel protein Pannexin1 keeps nerve cells flexible and thus the brain receptive for new knowledge. Together with colleagues from Canada and the U.S., researchers at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum led by the junior professor Dr. Nora Prochnow from the Department of Molecular Brain Research describe these results in PLoS ONE.

A major finding of the study is that selected genes get switched on during and after a seizure, sending swarms of signals to reduce uncontrolled firing of nerve cells. A medication that amplifies this response after a person’s initial seizure could thus prevent recurrent seizures and the onset of devastating epilepsy.

“HTS shows us that there are not just a few mutations, but potentially hundreds of mutations that are linked to autism,” said Dr. Buxbaum. “By identifying the many genetic roots of this disorder, we can better understand its biology, which in turn will allow us to develop more tailored treatments for individuals. It is a transformative time for genetic research in autism.”

A Loyola University Medical Center neurologist is reporting surprising results of a study of patients who experience both epileptic and non-epileptic seizures.

Non-epileptic seizures resemble epileptic seizures, but are not accompanied by abnormal electrical discharges. Rather, these seizures are believed to be brought on by psychological stresses.

A new tool for neuroscientists delivers a thousand pinpricks of light to a chunk of gray matter smaller than a sugar cube. The new fiber-optic device, created by biologists and engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, is the first tool that can deliver precise points of light to a 3-D section of living brain tissue. The work is a step forward for a relatively new but promising technique that uses gene therapy to turn individual brain cells on and off with light.

Seizures during childhood fever are usually benign, but when prolonged, they can foreshadow an increased risk of epilepsy later in life. Now a study funded by the National Institutes of Health suggests that brain imaging and recordings of brain activity could help identify the children at highest risk. The study reveals that within days of a prolonged fever-related seizure, some children have signs of acute brain injury, abnormal brain anatomy, altered brain activity, or a combination.

While many intellectual disabilities are caused directly by a genetic mutation in the so-called “protein coding” part of our genes, the researchers found that in their case the answer laid outside the gene and in the regulation of proteins.

The project brings together researchers from different fields to create an interdisciplinary research program that targets the complex disease, with two primary goals: improving clinical care and creating novel strategies for diagnosis and treatment of patients with epilepsy.

The unexpected survival of embryonic neurons transplanted into the brains of newborn mice in a series of experiments at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) raises hope for the possibility of using neuronal transplantation to treat diseases like Alzheimers, epilepsy, Huntingtons, Parkinsons and schizophrenia.

Through studies in animals, the researchers learned more about the possible brain pathways involved in absence, or petit mal, seizures and tested a drug that revealed a potential new target for blocking seizures before they spread.