title: Declarative long-term memory and the mesial temporal lobe: Insights from a 5-year postsurgery follow-up study on refractory temporal lobe epilepsy.
abstract: It is largely recognized that the mesial temporal lobe and its substructure support declarative long-term memory (LTM). So far, different theories have been suggested, and the organization of declarative verbal LTM in the brain is still a matter of debate. In the current study, we retrospectively selected 151 right-handed patients with temporal lobe epilepsy with and without hippocampal sclerosis, with a homogeneous (seizure-free) clinical outcome. We analyzed verbal memory performance within a normalized scores context, by means of prose recall and word paired-associate learning tasks. Patients were tested at presurgical baseline, 6months, 2 and 5years after anteromesial temporal lobe surgery, using parallel versions of the neuropsychological tests. Our main finding revealed a key involvement of the left temporal lobe and, in particular, of the left hippocampus in prose recall rather than word paired-associate task. We also confirmed that shorter duration of epilepsy, younger age, and withdrawal of antiepileptic drugs would predict a better memory outcome. When individual memory performance was taken into account, data showed that females affected by left temporal lobe epilepsy for longer duration were more at risk of presenting a clinically pathologic LTM at 5years after surgery. Taken together, these findings shed new light on verbal declarative memory in the mesial temporal lobe and on the behavioral signature of the functional reorganization after the surgical treatment of temporal lobe epilepsy.
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Neuropsychology Centre, ASST Grande Ospedale Metropolitano, Niguarda Hospital, Milano, Italy; Department of Brain and Behavioural Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy; NeuroMi, Milan Center for Neuroscience, Italy. Electronic address: gerardosalvato@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Gerardo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Salvato
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Neuropsychology Centre, ASST Grande Ospedale Metropolitano, Niguarda Hospital, Milano, Italy; NeuroMi, Milan Center for Neuroscience, Italy.
authors.forename: Pina
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Scarpa
authors.affiliation: Epilepsy Surgery Centre, ASST Grande Ospedale Metropolitano, Niguarda Hospital, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Francione
authors.affiliation: Epilepsy Surgery Centre, ASST Grande Ospedale Metropolitano, Niguarda Hospital, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mai
authors.affiliation: Epilepsy Surgery Centre, ASST Grande Ospedale Metropolitano, Niguarda Hospital, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tassi
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Neuropsychology Centre, ASST Grande Ospedale Metropolitano, Niguarda Hospital, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Scarano
authors.affiliation: Epilepsy Surgery Centre, ASST Grande Ospedale Metropolitano, Niguarda Hospital, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lo Russo
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Neuropsychology Centre, ASST Grande Ospedale Metropolitano, Niguarda Hospital, Milano, Italy; Department of Brain and Behavioural Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy; NeuroMi, Milan Center for Neuroscience, Italy.
authors.forename: Gabriella
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bottini
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000069279:Drug Resistant Epilepsy / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D057567:Memory, Long-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012737:Sex Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Epilepsy; Hippocampus; Memory; Surgery; Temporal lobe