stained sections (B, D) of a control (A, B) and a kainic acid treated (C, D) animals. Black arrows indicate mossy fiber sprouting in the inner molecular layer of a kainic acid treated animal in Timm stained section (C). White arrows show increased density of myelinated fibers in outer molecular layer in myelin stained section (D). Scale bar: 500 μm. In vivo detection of axonal plasticity in rat...

Background and Objective: Temporal lobe epilepsy is hallmarked with neuronal degeneration in some areas of hippocampus and mossy fiber sprouting in dentate area. Considering some evidences on neuroprotective and antioxidant activity of silymarin (SM), this study was undertaken to evaluate the preventive effect of this agent on structural changes in hippocampus of kainate-epileptic rats. Materia...

A Single Episode of Neonatal Seizures Permanently Alters Glutamatergic Synapses. Cornejo BJ, Mesches MH, Coultrap S, Browning MD, Benke TA. Ann Neurol 2007;61(5):411–426. OBJECTIVE: The contribution of seizures to cognitive changes remains controversial. We tested the hypothesis that a single episode of neonatal seizures (sNS) on rat postnatal day (P) 7 permanently impairs hippocampal-dependent...

The effects of kappa opioids on seizures and seizure-induced histopathology were investigated with the pilocarpine model of temporal lobe epilepsy. Rats treated with the kappa opioid receptor agonist U50488h before pilocarpine showed: 1) increased seizure latency; 2) decreased seizure duration; 3) decreased mossy fiber sprouting; and 4) increased hilar neuron survival when compared with rats pr...

Despite the strong association between epilepsy and psychiatric comorbidities, data on clinicopathologic correlations are scant. We previously reported differential mossy fiber sprouting (MFS) in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) patients with psychosis (MTLE + P) and major depression (MTLE + D). Because neurotrophins (NTs) can promote MFS, here, we investigated MFS, neuronal density and imm...

California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) are abundant human-sized carnivores with large gyrencephalic brains. They develop epilepsy after experiencing status epilepticus when naturally exposed to domoic acid. We tested whether sea lions previously exposed to DA (chronic DA sea lions) display hippocampal neuropathology similar to that of human patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. Hippocamp...

Structural rearrangement of the dentate gyrus has been described as the underlying cause of many types of epilepsies, particularly temporal lobe epilepsy. It is said to occur when aberrant connections are established in the damaged hippocampus, as described in human epilepsy and experimental models. Computer modelling of the dentate gyrus circuitry and the corresponding structural changes has b...

The cleavage of amyloid precursor protein (APP) by presenilins simultaneously generates amyloid-β (Aβ) and APP intracellular Domain (AICD) peptides. Aβ plays a pivotal role in Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology and recently AICD was also shown to contribute to AD. Transgenic mice overexpressing AICD show age-dependent tau phosphorylation and aggregation, memory deficits, and neurodegeneration. ...

Posttraumatic epilepsy is a major source of disability following traumatic brain injury (TBI) and a common cause of medically-intractable epilepsy. Previous attempts to prevent the development of posttraumatic epilepsy with treatments administered immediately following TBI have failed. Recently, the mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) pathway has been implicated in mechanisms of ep...