Spatio-temporal inter-ictal activity recorded from human epileptic hippocampal slices.
Epilepsy is a medical syndrome that produces seizures affecting a variety of mental and physical functions. The actual mechanisms of the onset and termination of the seizure are still unclear. While medical therapies can suppress the symptoms of seizures, 30% of patients do not respond well. Temporal lobectomy is a common surgical treatment for medically refractory epilepsy. Part of the hippocampus is removed from the patient. In this study, we have developed an in vitro epileptic model in human hippocampal slices resected from patients suffering from intractable mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. Using a planar multielectrode array system, spatio-temporal inter-ictal activity can be consistently recorded in high-potassium (8 mM), low-magnesium (0.25 mM) aCSF with additional 100 µM 4-aminopyridine. The induced inter-ictal activity can be recorded in different regions including dentate, CA1 and Subiculum. We hope the experimental model built in this study will help us understand more about seizure generation, as well as providing insights into prevention and novel therapeutics.
Department of Biomedical Engineering at University of Southern California USC, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA. mhsiao@usc.edu
Min-Chi
MC
Hsiao
Pen-Ning
PN
Yu
Dong
D
Song
Charles Y
CY
Liu
Christi N
CN
Heck
David
D
Millett
Theodore W
TW
Berger
D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008839:Microelectrodes; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009924:Organ Culture Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity