Epilepsy

By Gabrielle Cramer

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Brain Scan of an Individual with Frontal Lobe Epilepsy

• Epilepsy is a term used to define the unprovoked & spontaneous reoccurance of seizures which inhibit nervous system activity •180,000 Americans are diagnosed with Epilepsy each year

Neuron

• Neurons are cellular structures that allow for the transport of electrical messages in the brain

• hyperexcitability excitability of neurons may propagate epileptic seizures through random “firing” of nerve cells

EEG Detecting a Seizure

Neuronal Sodium Channel

•The Neuronal Sodium Channel creates an action potential

•There are inhibitory neurotransmitters such as GABA & excitatory neurons such as dopamine which stimulate activity in the brain

• Cell membrane properties & the microenvironment of the neuron• Intracellular processes• Structural features of neuronal elements•Interneuron connection

Factors determining Hyperexcitability

Partial Seizures

•most common form of seizures & originate in the temporal lobe

•seizure activity is always preceded by an altered state of consciousness

Generalized Seizures• effect both cerebral hemispheres of the brain

•The types of generalized seizures include myoclonic, clonic, tonic-clonic, and atonic seizures

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Fig 1. Brain sections of normal Drosophila (top) and a mutant (bottom) that exhibits neurodegeneration indicated by the presence of vacuolar pathology throughout the brain

• Scott ( 2001) utiliized Bang Sensitive Drosophila as amodel organismm for the study of genetic influence on Epilepsy

Recent Studies

Use of Drosophila as a model organism when studying excitatory neurotransmitter and potassium ions (Shak, 2003)

Work Cited1.The National Society for Epilepsy (2009), What is Epilepsy?. Available from Accessed on 15 February 2009).

2.^Cascino GD (1994). "Epilepsy: contemporary perspectives on evaluation and treatment". Mayo Clinic Proc 69: 1199�1211.3.^ Engel J Jr (1996). "Surgery for seizures". NEJM 334: 647-652.

3."Proposal for revised clinical and electroencephalographic classification of epileptic seizures. From the Commission on Classification and Terminology of the International League Against Epilepsy". Epilepsia 22 (4): 489�501. 1981. 5.^ a b "Proposal for revised classification of epilepsies and epileptic syndromes. Commission on Classification and Terminology of the International League Against Epilepsy". Epilepsia 30 (4): 389�99. 1989. 6.^ Jerome Engel. "A Proposed Diagnostic Scheme For People With Epileptic Seizures And With Epilepsy: Report Of The Ilae Task Force On Classification And Terminology". ILAE. Retrieved on 2006-07-18.7.^ Frucht MM, Quigg M, Schwaner C, Fountain NB. (2000). "Distribution of seizure precipitants among epilepsy syndromes.". Epilepsia 41 (12): 1534�1539..

8.Herzog AG, Harden CL, Liporace J, Pennell P, Schomer DL, Sperling M, et al. (2004). "Frequency of catamenial seizure exacerbation in women with localization-related epilepsy". Annals Neurology 56 (3): 431-34.

9. Hirtz D, Thurman DJ, Gwinn-Hardy K, Mohamed M, Chaudhuri AR, Zalutsky R (2007-01-30). "How common are the 'common' neurologic disorders?". Neurology 68 (5): 326�37.

10.^ Sander JW (2003). "The epidemiology of epilepsy revisited". Curr Opin Neurol 16 (2): 165�70.