Astrocytes And Epilepsy
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Astrocytes and Epilepsy
Author: Jacqueline A. Hubbard
language: en
Publisher: Academic Press
Release Date: 2016-07-05
Epilepsy is a devastating group of neurological disorders characterized by periodic and unpredictable seizure activity in the brain. There is a critical need for new drugs and approaches given than at least one-third of all epilepsy patients are not made free of seizures by existing medications and become "medically refractory". Much of epilepsy research has focused on neuronal therapeutic targets, but current antiepileptic drugs often cause severe cognitive, developmental, and behavioral side effects. Recent findings indicate a critical contribution of astrocytes, star-shaped glial cells in the brain, to neuronal and network excitability and seizure activity. Furthermore, many important cellular and molecular changes occur in astrocytes in epileptic tissue in both humans and animal models of epilepsy. The goal of Astrocytes and Epilepsy is to comprehensively review exciting findings linking changes in astrocytes to functional changes responsible for epilepsy for the first time in book format. These insights into astrocyte contribution to seizure susceptibility indicate that astrocytes may represent an important new therapeutic target in the control of epilepsy. Astrocytes and Epilepsy includes background explanatory text on astrocyte morphology and physiology, epilepsy models and syndromes, and evidence from both human tissue studies and animal models linking functional changes in astrocytes to epilepsy. Beautifully labelled diagrams are presented and relevant figures from the literature are reproduced to elucidate key findings and concepts in this rapidly emerging field. Astrocytes and Epilepsy is written for neuroscientists, epilepsy researchers, astrocyte investigators as well as neurologists and other specialists caring for patients with epilepsy. - Presents the first comprehensive book to synthesize historical and recent research on astrocytes and epilepsy into one coherent volume - Provides a great resource on the field of astrocyte biology and astrocyte-neuron interactions - Details potential therapeutic targets, including chapters on gap junctions, water and potassium channels, glutamate and adenosine metabolism, and inflammation
Crucial Role for Astrocytes in Epilepsy
This book summarizes current evidence of astrocyte dysfunction in epilepsy and discusses presumed underlying mechanisms. Epilepsy is characterized by the periodic occurrence of seizures. Currently available anticonvulsant drugs and therapies are insufficient to controlling seizures in about one third of patients. Thus, there is an urgent need for new therapies that prevent generation of the disorder and improve seizure control in individuals already afflicted. The vast majority of epileptic cases are of idiopathic origin with their underlying mechanisms being unclear. Neurosurgical specimens from patients presenting with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) demonstrate marked reactive gliosis. Since recent studies have implicated astrocytes in important physiological roles in the CNS, such as synchronization of neuronal firing, it is plausible that they may also have a role in seizure generation and/or seizure spread. In support of this view, various membrane channels, receptors, and transporters in astrocytic membranes are altered in the epileptic brain. Excitingly, recent evidence suggests that in the course of the pathogenesis of MTLE, these glial changes alter homeostatic network functions and temporally precede the alterations in neurons. These findings might eventually classify MTLE as a glial rather than a neuronal disorder, and identify astrocytes as promising new targets for the development of more specific antiepileptogenic therapeutic strategies. Although research on astrocytes in epilepsy is still in its infancy, this book clearly demonstrates a critical role of astrocytes in the disturbance of K+ and transmitter homeostasis and its impact on seizure generation.
The Causes of Epilepsy
Author: Simon D. Shorvon
language: en
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Release Date: 2011-04-14
Causation is an aspect of epilepsy neglected in the scientific literature and in the conceptualization of epilepsy at a clinical and experimental level. It was to remedy this deficiency that this book was conceived. The book opens with a draft etiological classification that goes some way to filling the nosological void. The book is divided into four etiological categories: idiopathic, symptomatic, cryptogenic, and provoked epilepsies. Each chapter considers topics in a consistent fashion, dealing with the phenomenon of epilepsy in each etiology, including its epidemiology, clinical features and prognosis, and any specific aspects of treatment. The book is a comprehensive reference work, a catalogue of all important causes of epilepsy, and a clinical tool for all clinicians dealing with patients who have epilepsy. It is aimed at epileptologists and neurologists and provides a distillation of knowledge in a form that is helpful in the clinical setting.