title: Deficient memory acquisition in temporal lobe epilepsy is predicted by hippocampal granule cell loss.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The hippocampal formation is essentially involved in the formation of conscious memories for facts and events and neurologic diseases affecting the hippocampus associate with severe memory deficits, i.e., temporal lobe epilepsies.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied the degree of declarative memory dysfunction in 24 human subjects with unilateral mesial temporal lobe epilepsy, using the unique possibility to access memory performance of each isolated hippocampus by intracarotid amobarbital anesthesia. Subsequently, hippocampal specimens from the same patients were available for neuropathologic analysis following surgical treatment of intractable seizures.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Neuronal cell loss in the dentate gyrus and all hippocampal subfields correlated with memory performance with the exception of CA2. Moreover, multiple regression and partial correlation analyses identified neuronal cell loss within the internal limb of the dentate gyrus, a developmentally distinct subregion of the hippocampal formation known to generate new neurons throughout life, as highly significant predictor for the patient's ability to learn and recall memories.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In accordance with animal studies, the dentate gyrus may play a critical role in the neuronal network associated with memory formation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropathology, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pauli
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hildebrandt
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Romstöck
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Stefan
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Blümcke
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000654:Amobarbital / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002339:Carotid Arteries; D002452:Cell Count; D018891:Dentate Gyrus / Q000473:pathology; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives / Q000008:administration & dosage; D007269:Injections, Intra-Arterial; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D009474:Neurons / Q000473:pathology*; D019635:Neurosurgical Procedures; D011184:Postoperative Period; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests
chemical_list: D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives; D000654:Amobarbital