Serum neurofilament concentrations in children with prolonged febrile seizures.

OBJECTIVE

Neurofilament (NF) is a major cytoskeletal protein of neurons. Elevation of serum NF concentration suggests neuronal injury, especially damage to axons. We assessed neuronal damage in febrile seizure (FS) by using NF.

METHODS

We used enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to measure serum levels of the phosphorylated form of NF-heavy chain (pNF-H) in 42 children with FS and 28 controls.

RESULTS

Serum pNF-H levels in children with prolonged febrile seizure (PFS) (n=29) were significantly higher than those in the controls (p<0.001). There were no significant differences in serum pNF-H levels between children with simple febrile seizure (n=9) and the controls. There was a significant correlation between seizure duration and serum pNF-H levels during the first week in children with FS (p=0.022, r=0.37).

CONCLUSION

Our results suggest that PFS could lead to some degree of neuronal damage even in the absence of abnormal clinical neurological findings during the short-term follow up period.