Relevance of basic research to clinical data: good answers, wrong questions!
Do early seizures beget seizures later in life? Clinical data and experimental observations seem to answer that question differently, with a no and a yes, respectively, which may stem from an inadequate readout of what experimental data actually do tell us and a possible simplification of what clinical data indicate. Using specific experimental examples, it is possible to show that in the developing brain, seizures do produce long-lasting alterations of neuronal excitability, although ongoing seizures are not observed in adults. The findings suggest that the long-lasting changes in developmental programs and network activity that seizures induce do not necessarily lead to epilepsy, unless other events that remain to be identified occur.
Ben-Ari
Yehezkel
Y
Institute of Neurobiology of the Mediterranean Sea (INMED), Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) Parc scientifique de Luminy, BP13, 13273, Marseille, Cedex 09 France. ben-ari@inmed.univ-mrs.fr
Holmes
Gregory L
GL