Epilepsy

By Gabrielle Cramer

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

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

Generalized Seizures

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.

4."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. 6ILAE. Retrieved on 2006-07-18.7.Erucht MM, Quigg M, Schwaner C, Fountain NB. (2000). "Distribution of seizure precipitants among epilepsy syndromes.". Epilepsia 41 (12): 1534�1539..

5.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.

6. 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.

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