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Suppressing Brain Activity Produces EpilepsyInvestigators: John
W. Swann, Ph.D. One important focus of our research has been to determine what produces childhood seizures. In this regard, one series of experiments produced another dramatic finding. When a chemical that suppresses the activity of nerve cells was infused into a small area of the developing brain, animals developed a severe and chronic seizure disorder. This was unexpected because seizures are produced by hyperactive nerve cells. So how could a loss of activity produce seizures? Results suggest that the nerve cells nearby compensate for loss of activity by producing hypersensitive excitatory contact with each other. Before the onset of epilepsy, the contacts contain more excitatory receptor molecules. Such a compensatory mechanism could play an important role clinically. Often, children with epilepsy have local lesions in the brain that result from an injury or inborn malformation. Cells surrounding such lesions could produce similar compensatory hypersensitive contacts. This could be how seizures begin. Our studies are now focused on identifying the molecular steps involved in these changes.
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