Crucial Role for Astrocytes in Epilepsy (Colloquium Neuroglia in Biology and Medicine: From Physiology to Disease) - Softcover

Bedner, Peter; Steinhäuser, Christian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 161504714X ISBN 13: 9781615047147

Publisher: Morgan & Claypool, 2015

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author:

Peter Bedner studied biology at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Bonn. He received a Ph.D. at the Institute of Genetics, Univerity of Bonn, on the functional analysis of the permeability of gap junction channels for second messengers. Subsequently he spent one year in the Calcium Signals Lab at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore where he worked on the cell type-specificity of intracellular distribution and diffusion of calmodulin. Since 2006 he is a post-doctoral fellow at the Institute of Cellular Neurosciences, University of Bonn. His main field of research is the analysis of the impact of glial cells on signal processing in the healthy and diseased brain. Peter Bedner: Institute of Cellular Neurosciences, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Sigmund-Freud Str. 25, 53105 Bonn, phone: 022828713140, fax: 022828719121, email: peter.bedner@ukb.uni-bonn.de.

About this edition

• Publisher: Morgan & Claypool
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 161504714X
• ISBN 13: 9781615047147
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 89