Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Cassidy T. Burke, Iuliia Vitko, Justyna Straub, Elsa O. Nylund, Agnieszka Gawda, Kathryn Blair, Kyle A. Sullivan, Lara Ergun, Matteo Ottolini, Manoj K. Patel, Edward Perez-Reyes
Summary: Epileptogenesis involves changes in neuronal firing and gene transcription networks, which can be targeted by the activity-dependent transcription factor EpiPro. The study successfully validated the effectiveness of EpiPro in multiple rodent models of epilepsy, highlighting its potential as a gene therapy driver for epilepsy.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Gabriel Berdugo-Vega, Shonali Dhingra, Federico Calegari
Summary: This article reviews a wealth of research in cellular, anatomical, behavioral, and computational studies on the mammalian hippocampus, aiming to understand the fundamental mechanisms underlying cognition. Despite accumulating knowledge on how the hippocampus processes and stores information for learning and memory, our understanding of hippocampal cognitive function remains incomplete. The article discusses the structural separability of the two blades of the dentate gyrus in the hippocampus and proposes a model that suggests differences in connectivity and adult neurogenesis in the two blades may contribute to subtly different cognitive functions.
Article
Pediatrics
Robin L. Haynes, Hannah C. Kinney, Elisabeth A. Haas, Jhodie R. Duncan, Molly Riehs, Felicia Trachtenberg, Dawna D. Armstrong, Sanda Alexandrescu, Jane B. Cryan, Marco M. Hefti, Henry F. Krous, Richard D. Goldstein, Lynn A. Sleeper
Summary: Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is a syndrome characterized by sudden death with heterogeneous biological causes, involving abnormalities in medullary serotonin receptor and hippocampus. Results show a low proportion of SIDS cases with abnormalities in both medullary and hippocampal regions, with prenatal smoking potentially contributing to these abnormalities.
FRONTIERS IN PEDIATRICS
(2021)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Angela Kecskes, Boldizsar Czeh, Miklos Kecskes
Summary: This review summarizes the role of mossy cells in healthy and overexcited hippocampus, discussing the controversy surrounding their involvement in temporal lobe epilepsy.
BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA-MOLECULAR CELL RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Lucas Goirand-Lopez, Marie Moulinier, Alexandre Vigier, Celine Boileau, Alan Carleton, Sarah F. Muldoon, Thomas Marissal, Valerie Crepel
Summary: Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is a common form of epilepsy in adults, characterized by aberrant epileptogenic network formed by mossy fiber sprouting. Kainate receptors (KARs) play a prominent role in this network by facilitating the recruitment of neurons into coactive cell assemblies, contributing to the occurrence of epileptiform network events.
NEUROBIOLOGY OF DISEASE
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Antonella Zirotti Rosenberg, Maxs Mendez-Ruette, Mario Gorziglia, Benjamin Alzerreca, Javiera Cabello, Sofia Kaufmann, Lukas Rambousek, Andres Iturriaga Jofre, Ursula Wyneken, Carlos A. Lafourcade
Summary: This study examined the effects of the synthetic cannabinoid WIN on seizure events and the levels of CB1R and beta-Arrestin2 in female and male adolescent rats. The results showed that exogenous administration of WIN prevented moderate seizures and increased the phosphorylated CaMKII levels in the hippocampus.
FRONTIERS IN MOLECULAR NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Cell Biology
Ala Ahrari, Maurice Meseke, Eckart Foerster
Summary: Granule cell dispersion (GCD) is considered a pathological feature of temporal lobe epilepsy. Early epileptiform activity may be linked to the development of chronic epilepsy, and electrical activity during neuronal migration and differentiation is believed to contribute to GCD.
FRONTIERS IN CELL AND DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Neurosciences
Jesse D. Cushman, Michael R. Drew, Franklin B. Krasne
Summary: The primary function of juvenile and adult hippocampal neurogenesis appears to be allowing behavioral experience to shape connectivity in the dentate gyrus and optimize hippocampal circuits for future learning. This environmental sculpting reduces overlap among memory representations, provides more information, and allows for more memories to be stored accurately. The decline of neurogenesis prior to adulthood may be explained by this prospective function of sculpting hippocampal circuits.
PROGRESS IN NEUROBIOLOGY
(2021)
Review
Cell Biology
Luka Culig, Xixia Chu, Vilhelm A. Bohr
Summary: Adult neurogenesis is a potential target for extending cognitive healthspan, as aging is a major risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases. This review describes the role of adult neurogenesis in neurodegenerative diseases and discusses the molecular mechanisms involving key proteins. Interventions that increase neurogenesis and regulate aging research targets are summarized, and the outlook for restoring neurogenesis levels in elderly individuals and those with neurodegeneration is shared.
AGEING RESEARCH REVIEWS
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Sarah E. Latchney, Brayan R. Ruiz Lopez, Paige D. Womble, Katherine J. Blandin, Joaquin N. Lugo
Summary: This study provides a comprehensive understanding of how conditional deletion of Pten regulates the genesis of adult neural stem/progenitor cells in the dentate gyrus and subventricular zone. The results demonstrate that Pten deletion leads to successive increases in cell proliferation and immaturity, with the increase spreading to non-neurogenic areas as mice age. The study also reveals region-specific increases in apoptotic cells that parallel the increases in proliferating cells.
FRONTIERS IN MOLECULAR NEUROSCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Cristian Morales, Juan Facundo Morici, Nelson Espinosa, Agostina Sacson, Ariel Lara-Vasquez, M. A. Garcia-Perez, Pedro Bekinschtein, Noelia Weisstaub, Pablo Fuentealba
Summary: Memory systems store and discriminate representations of similar experiences through pattern separation to guide future decisions efficiently. Somatostatin cells in the dentate gyrus play a crucial role in the acquisition of contextual and spatial overlapping memories.
Article
Cell Biology
Kelsey D. McDermott, M. Agustina Frechou, Jake T. Jordan, Sunaina S. Martin, J. Tiago Goncalves
Summary: Aging is associated with cognitive deficits, especially in spatial memory. The hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG) is important for processing spatial information but is vulnerable to aging. Using two-photon calcium imaging, researchers found that neuronal activity and spatial representations in the DG were impaired in aged mice. However, with repeated exposure to the same environment, spatial tuning and information levels in aged mice improved, while activity remained elevated.
Review
Neurosciences
Tasuku Araki, Yuji Ikegaya, Ryuta Koyama
Summary: Hippocampal neurogenesis continues throughout life and is tightly controlled by environmental conditions, with microglia and astrocytes playing key roles in modulating the process. Glial cells release factors that support adult neurogenesis under normal conditions, but can also contribute to inflammation and hinder neurogenesis in diseases like Alzheimer's, depression, and epilepsy.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Erin R. Cullen, Kamran Tariq, Amy N. Shore, Bryan W. Luikart, Matthew C. Weston
Summary: This study found that although mTORC2 inactivation can partially rescue morphologic and electrophysiological abnormalities caused by PTEN loss, it is unable to prevent seizures. Further research demonstrated that mTORC2 inactivation, while rescuing dendritic arbor overgrowth, increases synaptic strength and causes impairments in presynaptic function. These results suggest that an increase in excitatory connectivity and co-occurring synaptic dysfunction, even in the absence of morphologic changes, is sufficient to generate seizures downstream of PTEN loss.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Biology
Elijah A. Petter, Isabella P. Fallon, Ryan N. Hughes, Glenn D. R. Watson, Warren H. Meck, Francesco Paolo Ulloa Severino, Henry H. Yin
Summary: Animals can learn through reinforcement learning, and previous research has shown the importance of dopaminergic projections to the basal ganglia in this process. However, little is known about the role of the hippocampus. This study found that a specific population of hippocampal neurons, receiving dopaminergic input from the locus coeruleus and expressing D1 dopamine receptors, is involved in operant self-stimulation.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Anna Rada, Robert Birnbacher, Claudio Gobbi, Martin Kurthen, Albert Ludolph, Markus Naumann, Ulrike Neirich, Tim J. von Oertzen, Gerhard Ransmayr, Matthias Riepe, Mareike Schimmel, Oliver Schwartz, Rainer Surges, Christian G. Bien
Summary: Patients with surface antibodies are more likely to achieve seizure freedom and require less long-term use of anti-seizure medication. Changes in antibody titers are closely related to clinical courses.
JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY
(2021)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Fatme Seval Ismail, Marianna Spatola, Friedrich G. Woermann, Stoyan Popkirov, Johannes Jungilligens, Christian G. Bien, Jorg Wellmer, Uwe Schlegel
Summary: In patients with temporal lobe seizures and additional signs of limbic involvement, 17% had neuronal antibodies confirming the diagnosis of ALE. Mediotemporal MRI changes were present in all antibody-positive cases and had a positive likelihood ratio of 2.11.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY
(2022)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Susanne Fauser, Christian E. Elger, Friedrich Woermann, Christian G. Bien
Summary: The study found that females and individuals over the age of 7 years were more likely to develop RE, with a higher prevalence in the left hemisphere. Perinatal complications and facial autoimmune conditions were more common in RE patients compared to controls. FEver was a more frequent trigger for RE manifestation, and there may be genetic or infectious factors involved in the development of the disease.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Thomas Cloppenborg, Monique van Schooneveld, Anne Hagemann, Johanna Lena Hopf, Thilo Kalbhenn, Willem M. Otte, Tilman Polster, Christian G. Bien, Kees P. J. Braun
Summary: This study aims to predict postoperative intelligence and developmental quotients (IQ/DQ) and develop clinically applicable prediction models. Through analyzing neuropsychological outcomes and possible determinants before and after epilepsy surgery in children, it was found that presurgical IQ and DQ were the strongest predictors of postoperative cognition.
Article
Neurosciences
Lea Marie Reisch, Martin Wegrzyn, Malena Mielke, Alexandra Mehlmann, Friedrich G. Woermann, Johanna Kissler, Christian G. Bien
Summary: The study suggests that negative stimuli can lead to increased activation in the visual cortex, possibly due to modulating feedback from the amygdala. There are differential effects of left and right amygdala lesions on the visual cortex, with the right amygdala influencing visual processing more broadly and the left amygdala specifically contributing to emotion processing.
HUMAN BRAIN MAPPING
(2022)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Javier A. Lopez-Rivera, Costin Leu, Marie Macnee, Jean Khoury, Lucas Hoffmann, Roland Coras, Katja Kobow, Nisha Bhattarai, Eduardo Perez-Palma, Hajo Hamer, Sebastian Brandner, Karl Roessler, Christian G. Bien, Thilo Kalbhenn, Tom Pieper, Till Hartlieb, Elizabeth Butler, Giulio Genovese, Kerstin Becker, Janine Altmueller, Lisa-Marie Niestroj, Lisa Ferguson, Robyn M. Busch, Peter Nuernberg, Imad Najm, Ingmar Bluemcke, Dennis Lal
Summary: Lopez-Rivera et al. conducted a study on the genetic architecture of different types of epileptic brain lesions. They discovered novel somatic chromosomal alterations, identified new genes and genotype-phenotype associations, and supported the role of genetics in the histopathological diagnosis of epileptic lesions. The findings provide valuable insights for improving treatment of drug-resistant focal epilepsy.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Carmen Barba, Ingmar Blumcke, Melodie R. Winawer, Till Hartlieb, Hoon-Chul Kang, Laura Grisotto, Mathilde Chipaux, Christian G. Bien, Barbora Hermanovska, Brenda E. Porter, Hart G. W. Lidov, Valentina Cetica, Friedrich G. Woermann, Javier A. Lopez-Rivera, Peter D. Canoll, Irina Mader, Ludovico D'Incerti, Sara Baldassari, Edward Yang, Ahmed Gaballa, Hannes Vogel, Barbora Straka, Letizia Macconi, Tilman Polster, Gerald A. Grant, Lenka Krskova, Hui Jin Shin, Ara Ko, Peter B. Crino, Pavel Krsek, Jeong Ho Lee, Dennis Lal, Stephanie Baulac, Annapurna Poduri, Renzo Guerrini
Summary: This study describes the clinical, genetic, neuroimaging, EEG, and histopathologic findings in patients with refractory epilepsy and brain somatic SLC35A2 gene variants. It also assesses possible predictors of postoperative seizure and cognitive outcomes.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Lea Marie Reisch, Martin Wegrzyn, Malena Mielke, Alexandra Mehlmann, Friedrich G. Woermann, Christian G. Bien, Johanna Kissler
Summary: Unilateral right temporal lobe resections can impair facial identity recognition and reduce BOLD response to faces, while also affecting emotion recognition to a lesser extent. The right anteromedial temporal lobe plays a specific role in processing faces and facial expressions.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Sally Elakkary, Anne Hagemann, Dennis Klimpel, Christian G. Bien, Christian Brandt
Summary: This retrospective study evaluated the serum concentrations of clobazam and N-desmethylclobazam (NCLB) in five patients before and after co-medication with cenobamate. The addition of cenobamate resulted in an increase in NCLB serum concentration and concentration-to-dose ratio (CDR) in all patients. However, the degree of increase varied among patients. Therefore, concomitant administration of cenobamate and clobazam can substantially increase serum concentrations of NCLB, leading to both positive therapeutic effects and unwanted fatigue.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Louisa Hohmann, Christian G. G. Bien, Martin Holtkamp, Philip Grewe
Summary: This study investigated the relevance of patients' psycho-social profile for surgical decision-making in epilepsy. The results showed that employment was the only relevant psycho-social aspect for neurologists' surgery recommendations, while subjective antiseizure medication adverse events, subjective seizure severity, and subjective cognitive impairment were important predictors for patients' acceptance of surgery.
Article
Neurosciences
Anissa Benzait, Valentina Krenz, Martin Wegrzyn, Anna Doll, Friedrich Woermann, Kirsten Labudda, Christian G. Bien, Johanna Kissler
Summary: The ability to regulate emotions is crucial for maintaining psychological health. Patients with frontal lobe epilepsy exhibit emotional dysregulation and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies. Our study found that frontal lobe epilepsy patients showed diminished neural activity in specific areas during emotion regulation and displayed different activity patterns compared to healthy controls.
HUMAN BRAIN MAPPING
(2023)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Thilo Kalbhenn, Thomas Cloppenborg, Friedrich G. G. Woermann, Anne Hagemann, Tilman Polster, Roland Coras, Ingmar Bluemcke, Christian G. G. Bien, Matthias Simon
Summary: Objective completeness is an important predictor of seizure freedom in epilepsy surgery. This study focuses on the requirements for complete hemispherotomy and suggests that disconnection of the insula can lead to favorable postoperative seizure outcomes. The results demonstrate that complete surgical disconnection is the most crucial factor in predicting seizure freedom following hemispherotomy.
Editorial Material
Clinical Neurology
Anna Rada, Christian G. Bien
Summary: Seizures resulting from cerebral autoimmunity can be either symptomatic in the context of autoimmune encephalitis (AIE) with neural surface antibodies or indicative of an enduring predisposition to seizures, known as autoimmune encephalitis-associated epilepsy (AEAE). AEAE can be diagnosed in cases where seizures persist for at least 2 years after immunotherapy initiation, no signs of encephalitis are observed on imaging, cerebrospinal fluid cell count is normal, and antibody titers decrease substantially. The distinction between AIE and AEAE has practical consequences for treatment and social limitations.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Izumi Kuramochi, Takayuki Iwayama, Christian Brandt, Haruo Yoshimasu, Christian G. Bien, Anne Hagemann
Summary: The German version of the Epilepsy Self-Stigma Scale (ESSS-G) was developed and validated in this study, allowing for reliable evaluation of self-stigma in German epilepsy patients. The results showed that higher ESSS-G scores were associated with higher anxiety and depression, lower self-esteem, overall lower quality of life and health. ESSS-G can be used to assess the efficacy of treatment strategies in reducing self-stigma and conducting intercultural comparisons.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Carmen Barba, Ingmar Blumcke, Melodie R. Winawer, Till Hartlieb, Hoon-Chul Kang, Laura Grisotto, Mathilde Chipaux, Christian G. Bien, Barbora Hermanovska, Brenda E. Porter, Hart G. W. Lidov, Valentina Cetica, Friedrich G. Woermann, Javier A. Lopez-Rivera, Peter D. Canoll, Irina Mader, Ludovico D'Incerti, Sara Baldassari, Edward Yang, Ahmed Gaballa, Hannes Vogel, Barbora Straka, Letizia Macconi, Tilman Polster, Gerald A. Grant, Lenka Krskova, Hui Jin Shin, Ara Ko, Peter B. Crino, Pavel Krsek, Jeong Ho Lee, Dennis Lal, Stephanie Baulac, Annapurna Poduri, Renzo Guerrini
Summary: Brain somatic SLC35A2 gene variants are associated with two main clinical phenotypes, early epileptic encephalopathy (EE) and drug-resistant focal epilepsy (DR-FE). Most patients showed unchanged cognitive performances after surgery, with better postoperative seizure control outcomes seen in cases where postoperative EEG was normal or improved.