Studying altered brain cells sheds light on epilepsy

April 26, 2010

Changes in reactive astrocyte cells in the brain can profoundly reduce inhibitory control over brain signals, neuroscience researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Tufts University School of Medicine have found.

The researchers were able to dampen neuronal excitability in the animals’ brain slices by adding glutamine, an amino acid that is depleted as a result of reduced glutamine synthetase activity.

“We already know that inhibition is a powerful force in the brain,” said Douglas A. Coulter, Ph.D., the corresponding author of the research study, from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “In epilepsy, inhibition is not working properly, and uncontrolled signaling leads to epileptic seizures. Because both disrupted inhibition and reactive astrocytosis 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.”

The research sheds light on epileptic seizures and potentially on other prominent diseases involving poorly regulated brain activity, and may contribute to developing better treatments for epilepsy.

More info: Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia news