Newborn cells in brain may offer treatment development for epileptic seizures
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The presence of newborn neurons and an immature version of a related cell, known as astroglia, were found in patients with epilepsy, researchers reported in Nature Neuroscience.
“Our findings furnish surprising new insights into how immature astroglia might contribute to epilepsy — opening an unexplored avenue toward the development of new anti-seizure medications for millions of people,” Michael Bonaguidi, PhD, assistant professor of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine at the University of Southern California, said in a released statement.
According to the release, drug resistance is common with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy and affects one-third of all patients with this form. Some patients need to undergo surgery to remove the hippocampus from the brain to stop seizures.
“Many patients bravely and generously donate their surgical specimens for research to advance our understanding of epilepsy and to develop new and better therapies,” Jonathan J. Russin, MD, a neurological surgeon at USC, said in the release. “These patients know better than anyone the trade-offs involved in the current treatment options, which often either don’t provide adequate seizure control or carry very serious cognitive side effects.”
From samples donated, Russin and colleagues observed newborn neurons, as well as a persistent population of immature astroglia that were not observed in samples from those without epilepsy.
The researchers also studied electrical activity related to seizures, where they observed correlations between where electrical activity was localized within the surgical samples and the location and the behavior of the astroglia.
“Normally, astroglia are considered to be supporting cells, because their job is to create an environment where neurons can thrive,” Aswathy Ammothumkandy, postdoctoral fellow and lead author of the study, said in the release. “But in patients who have lived for many years with epilepsy, it might be immature astroglia that are contributing to both initiating and modulating chronic seizures.”
Reference:
Ammothumkandy A, et al. Nat Neurosci. 2022;doi:10.1038/s41593-022-01044-2.