Theiler’s Virus-Induced Encephalopathy: A Novel Model of Viral-Induced Epilepsy

Viral infections of the CNS are associated with an increased risk for the development of epilepsy. At the present time, there is no animal model that accurately reproduces the pathology and physiological features of human virus CNS infection (encephalitis)-induced epilepsy. The purpose of this study is to characterize the clinical and electrographic seizure phenotype, determine virus-immune-CNS parameters involved in seizure development and seizure susceptibility and assess the impact of acute viral infection on seizure threshold and the development of epilepsy. The planned investigations will help to establish a new animal model of viral CNS infection that can be utilized for identifying novel therapies that would prevent the development of encephalopathy-induced epilepsy.