Small animal neuroimaging has become increasingly available to researchers, expanding the breadth of questions studied with these methods. Applying these noninvasive techniques to the open questions underlying epileptogenesis is no exception. A major advantage of small animal neuroimaging is its translational appeal. Studies can be well controlled and manipulated, examining the living brain in ...

A variety of animal models have been developed to study the effect of antiepileptic drugs. These models provide the means of inducing changes and causing alterations in neural function which may lead to epileptogenesis. Kindling is a lasting change in brain function caused by repeated stimulation resulting an increased seizure duration and progressive intensification of seizure activity. The ki...

This study tested the hypothesis that acquired epileptogenesis is accompanied by DNA methylation changes independent of etiology. We investigated DNA methylation and gene expression in the hippocampal CA3/dentate gyrus fields at 3 months following epileptogenic injury in three experimental models of epilepsy: focal amygdala stimulation, systemic pilocarpine injection, or lateral fluid-percussio...

The aim of this study was to determine if there is cerebral cortical hemispheral asymmetry in human epileptogenesis. We studied 75 epilepsy patients using electroencephalograms, neuroimaging, ictal semiology and physical examination to determine if epilepsy originates more frequently from the left or the right hemisphere. We considered epilepsy to be definitely-lateralized if one or more of the...

Title: Topological basis of epileptogenesis in a model of severe cortical trauma 2 Authors: Vladislav Volman, Terrence J. Sejnowski, Maxim Bazhenov 3 4 1. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Computational Neurobiology Laboratory, The Salk 5 Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA 6 2. Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, 7 CA 92...

During limbic epileptogenesis in vivo the dentate granule cells (DGCs) exhibit increased expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), followed by striking morphologic plasticities, namely the formation of basal dendrites and the sprouting of mossy fibers. We hypothesized that increased expression of BDNF intrinsic to DGCs is sufficient to induce these plasticities. To test this hypot...

Epilepsy is one of the most common chronic brain disorders worldwide, affecting 1% of people across different ages and backgrounds. Epilepsy is defined as the sporadic occurrence of spontaneous recurrent seizures. Accumulating preclinical and clinical evidence suggest that there is a positive feedback cycle between epileptogenesis and brain inflammation. Epileptic seizures increase key inflamma...