Article published by Wiley Online Library

Epilepsy is a prevalent, chronic group of neurological diseases that affects more than 70 million people worldwide and encompasses many different disorders, of which temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the most common in adults. Current models of the neurological condition conceptualize epilepsy as involving widespread cortical and subcortical network disturbances, including reduced cortical thickness and white matter abnormalities. As such, studies have frequently overlooked the cerebellum. However, evidence from electrophysiological and optogenetic studies in animals, as well as non-invasive imaging studies in humans, indicates a role for the cerebellum in seizure generation. In a recent study including 1,602 adult people with epilepsy and 1,022 age- and sex-matched healthy controls, an association between posterior cerebellar volume and duration of illness was identified across all epilepsies and indicated a common and potentially progressive neurodegeneration in people with epilepsy. These findings highlight the cerebellum as a potential target for therapeutic intervention in epilepsy and underscore the importance of incorporating the cerebellum into neurobiological models of epilepsy.

Article published by PhysOrg

The prospect of a cure for a type of epilepsy could be one step closer following breakthrough research on materials that may help new types of probes be safely implanted in the brain. 

Bioengineering researchers from the University of Glasgow have investigated new dissolvable coatings which could help safely guide flexible implants into brains to help regulate temporal lobe epilepsy. 

The development of the material, outlined in an early-view paper in the journal Advanced NanoBiomed Research, is part of a collaboration that aims to tackle epilepsy by treating and regenerating damaged brain tissue. 

The €8m Hybrid Enhanced Regenerative Medicine Systems project—HERMES—was launched in 2019. It brings together 12 partners from seven EU countries to find new ways to heal brain disorders using transplants that combine biological and artificial components. 

Neural probes capable of deep brain stimulation have been used to help treat people living with Parkinson’s disease and other conditions like obsessive-compulsive disorder. They are a promising future treatment for temporal lobe epilepsy, which can be resistant to drugs. 

Currently, deep brain stimulation probes, which are made from silicon, often cause scarring around their implantation site because of a mismatch between the stiffness of the artificial materials and the soft tissue of the brain. 

One solution could be a new generation of flexible probes made from new bendable materials which offer a better match with the softness of brain tissue. Flexible implants could also widen the possibilities of where the implants could be placed in the brain, opening up treatments for more conditions. 

However, the increased flexibility of the materials can increase the risk of the probes bending or breaking when introduced into brain tissue—a key problem that needs to be solved before the HERMES team and others can use them effectively as implants. 

In the paper, the Glasgow team and colleagues in Italy outline how they explored the potential of four different biological materials as coatings for future HERMES implants. The materials act as temporary stiffeners, which could allow flexible probes to reach their target in the brain without bending, before dissolving once the surgery is complete. 

Article published by The Mirage

Seizures can be predicted more than 30 minutes before onset in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy, opening the door to a therapy using electrodes that could be activated to prevent seizures from happening, according to new research from UTHealth Houston.

The study, led by Sandipan Pati, MD, associate professor in the Department of Neurology with McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, was recently published in NEJM Evidence, a publication of the New England Journal of Medicine.

“The ability to predict seizures before they occur is a major step forward in the field of epilepsy research,” said Pati, senior author of the study and a member of the Texas Institute for Restorative Neurotechnologies at UTHealth Houston Neurosciences. “These findings are significant because they suggest that we may be able to develop more effective therapies for epilepsy, which could greatly improve the quality of life for patients who suffer from this condition.”

Surgery is a common treatment for many patients with epilepsy. But when seizures affect larger areas of the brain, removing part of the brain surgically is not an option. Neuromodulation therapy could offer an alternative solution for patients with these seizures, Pati said.

Past studies of continuous electroencephalography (EEG) – the measurement and recording of electrical activity in different parts of the brain – have suggested that seizures in people with focal-onset epilepsies tend to occur during periods of heightened risk, represented by pathologic brain activities known as “pro-ictal states.” The EEG-based detection of pro-ictal states is critical to the success of adaptive neuromodulation, with the early detection of seizures allowing electrodes to be applied therapeutically to the brain’s seizure onset zone and thalamus.

To distinguish these pro-ictal states, Pati’s team studied a prospective, consecutive series of 15 patients with temporal lobe epilepsy who underwent limbic thalamic recordings in addition to routine intracranial EEG for seizure localization. In total, they analyzed 1,800 patient hours of continuous EEG.

Article published by Florida State University News

A team of Florida State University College of Medicine researchers has found a link between a specific protein in the brain and increased vulnerability to neurodegeneration for individuals with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE).

Their findings are published in the Journal of Neurophysiology.

TLE is the most common form of epilepsy in adults and is often resistant to medication. Professor of Biomedical Sciences Sanjay Kumar, who led the study, said the team used a novel technique that made it possible to study small amounts of tissue from hard-to-reach regions within the brain. Kumar, FSU researcher Stephen Beesley and former doctoral student Thomas Sullenberger focused on a chemical messenger called glutamate and one of its receptors, N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA).

Glutamate plays a major role in learning and memory, and it must be present in the right concentration at the right time for the brain to function properly. It is also the body’s most abundant amino acid, a building block of protein.

The team discovered that although two proteins commonly associated with NMDA — GluN1 and GluN2 — were evenly distributed in a critical hippocampal region of the brain, a third one — GluN3 — was distributed on a gradient. A pattern of neuron loss in the hippocampal and para-hippocampal regions of the brain is a hallmark feature of TLE.

Because GluN3 makes neurons more susceptible to calcium-induced cellular damage, the discovery helps researchers narrow the focus to identify exactly where neurons are dying and in how large an area.

Kumar has applied to patent the novel technique, known as area-specific tissue analysis (ASTA), that he developed. ASTA’s added precision created an improved method of testing for both the presence and volume of specific proteins linked to TLE.