Ferland Russell J
Department of Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics, Albany Medical College, Albany, NY 12208, USA.
Department of Neurology, Albany Medical College, Albany, NY 12208, USA.
Bio Protoc. 2017 Jun 5;7(11). doi: 10.21769/BioProtoc.2309.
Development of spontaneous seizures is the hallmark of human epilepsy. There is a critical need for new epilepsy models in order to elucidate mechanisms responsible for leading to the development of spontaneous seizures and for testing new anti-epileptic compounds. Moreover, rodent models of epilepsy have clearly demonstrated that there are two independent seizure systems in the brain: 1) the forebrain seizure network required for the expression of clonic seizures mediated by forebrain neurocircuitry, and 2) the brainstem seizure network necessary for the expression of brainstem or tonic seizures mediated by brainstem neurocircuitry. In seizure naïve animals, these two systems are separate, but developing models that can explore the intersection of the forebrain and brainstem seizure systems or for elucidating mechanisms responsible for bringing these two seizure systems together may aid in our understanding of: 1) how seizures can become more complex overtime, and 2) sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) since propagation of seizure discharge from the forebrain seizure system to the brainstem seizure system may have an important role in SUDEP because many cardiorespiratory systems are localized in the brainstem. The repeated flurothyl seizure model of epileptogenesis, as described here, may aid in providing insight into these important epilepsy issues in addition to understanding how spontaneous seizures develop.
自发性癫痫发作的出现是人类癫痫的标志。迫切需要新的癫痫模型，以阐明导致自发性癫痫发作的机制，并用于测试新的抗癫痫化合物。此外，癫痫的啮齿动物模型已清楚地表明，大脑中存在两个独立的癫痫发作系统：1）由前脑神经回路介导的阵挛性癫痫发作表达所需的前脑癫痫发作网络，以及2）由脑干神经回路介导的脑干或强直性癫痫发作表达所必需的脑干癫痫发作网络。在未发生过癫痫发作的动物中，这两个系统是分开的，但开发能够探索前脑和脑干癫痫发作系统交叉点或阐明将这两个癫痫发作系统联系在一起的机制的模型，可能有助于我们理解：1）癫痫发作如何随着时间变得更加复杂，以及2）癫痫猝死（SUDEP），因为癫痫放电从前脑癫痫发作系统传播到脑干癫痫发作系统可能在SUDEP中起重要作用，因为许多心肺系统位于脑干。本文所述的反复氟烷癫痫发作模型，除了有助于理解自发性癫痫发作如何发展外，还可能有助于深入了解这些重要的癫痫问题。
