A particular structure in the brain is a “choke point” for a type of epileptic seizure that affects mostly children, Stanford University School of Medicine investigators have found.
The researchers used an advanced technology called optogenetics to show, in rodent models of one of the most common forms of childhood epilepsy, that inducing synchronized, rhythmic activity in a specific nerve tract within this structure is sufficient to cause seizures, while disrupting that activity is sufficient to terminate them.
The new findings, described in a study published online Dec. 15 in Neuron, point to the possibility of improved ways of reducing, halting or possibly even preventing absence seizures in susceptible children. There’s reason to think these findings may also apply to a wider range of seizure types, including the more dramatic and better-known grand mal, characterized by involuntary jerking movements in addition to loss of consciousness.
PR:http://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2016/12/research-at-stanford-locates-absence-epilepsy-seizure.html
Journal article:http://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(16)30864-9
Corina Marinescu
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