Posttraumatic epilepsy: the roles of synaptic plasticity.
Acute cerebral cortical trauma often leads to paroxysmal activities that terminate in a few hours, but several months later, patients can develop epilepsy. The process occurring between the initial acute triggered seizures and the onset of spontaneous unprovoked seizures is termed epileptogenesis. Here the authors summarize recent morphological, electrophysiological, and computational studies demonstrating that partial cortical isolation increases the number and duration of silent states in the cortical network, boosting neuronal connectivity and network excitability. These changes develop progressively, and after several weeks their synergetic action leads to epilepsy.
Laval University, Medical School, Centre de Recherche, Université Laval Robert-Giffard, Québec, Canada. igor.timofeev@phs.ulaval.ca
Igor
I
Timofeev
Maksim
M
Bazhenov
Sinziana
S
Avramescu
Dragos A
DA
Nita
D000818:Animals; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology*