New Neural Data to Help Fight Epilepsy

Inside the human brain, nerve cells called neurons stick to each other forming neural pathways, each composed of tens to thousands of these structures. They are bound together through synapses, which mediate the transmission of electrical impulses from one neuron to the next through chemicals called neurotransmitters. When an impulse passes through a neuron, experts call the phenomenon “firing,” as that particular area of the brain lights up on brain scans. Now, a team of neuroscientists managed to discover a new control mechanisms for the neural firing process.

The finding has far-reaching implications for a variety of medical conditions, including epilepsy. Though they are not 100 percent sure, researchers believe that the disorder is caused by neurons that misfire, causing the seizure the disease is famous for. Therefore, if more data on how impulses pass through nerve cells could be collected, scientists could intervene in malfunctioning areas using novel drugs that could see a reduction of the number of seizures epilepsy patients generally suffer from.

What the research team plans to do is to isolate both the molecular and electrical events that take place when the control mechanism is disrupted, and to analyze them extensively. The investigators, who are based at the Tufts University School of Medicine and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, believe that this may hold the key to learning more about what is wrong in the brains of those suffering from epilepsy and other conditions with similar causes.

“By better understanding the detailed events that occur in epilepsy, we are gaining knowledge that could ultimately lead to better treatments for epilepsy, and possibly for other neurological diseases. Temporal lobe epilepsy, in particular, often resists current treatments,” explains Douglas A. Coulter, PhD, a neuroscientist at the Children's Hospital, and also the corresponding author of the new study. The expert and his group worked closely with a team of TUSM scientists, who were led by co-senior study author Philip G. Haydon, PhD. Details of the collaboration appear in the April 25 issue of the esteemed scientific journal Nature Neuroscience.

“We already know that inhibition is a powerful force in the brain. In epilepsy, inhibition is not working properly, and uncontrolled signaling leads to epileptic seizures. Because both disrupted inhibition and reactive astrocytosis [a type of star-shaped glial cells] are known to occur in other neurologic conditions, including many psychiatric disorders, traumatic brain injury, and neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease, our findings may have wide implications,” Coulter concludes, quoted by ScienceDaily.