Journal article
Impact of seizures on developing dendrites: Implications for intellectual developmental disabilities
Epilepsia (Copenhagen), Vol.53(s1), pp.116-124
06/2012
DOI: 10.1111/j.1528-1167.2012.03482.x
PMID: 22612816
Abstract
Childhood epilepsy can be severe and even catastrophic. In these instances, cognition can be impairedleading to long-term intellectual disabilities. One factor that could potentially cause cognitive deficits is the frequent seizures that characterize intractable epilepsy. However, it has been difficult to separate the effects seizures may have from those of preexisting neuropathologies and/or the effects of ongoing anticonvulsant therapies. Therefore, important questions are: Do early life seizures produce the learning deficits? And if they do, how do they do it? Results from recent animal models studies reviewed here show that recurrent seizures in infancy stop the growth of CA1 hippocampal dendrites. We speculate that the molecular mechanisms responsible for seizure-induced growth suppression are homeostatic/neuroprotective, used by the developing nervous system in an attempt to limit neuronal and network excitability and prevent the continued generation of seizures. However, by preventing the normal growth of dendrites, there is a reduction in CA1 glutamatergic synapses that supports long-lasting forms of synaptic plasticity thought to be the cellular basis of learning and memory. Therefore, dendrite growth suppression would reduce the neuroanatomic substrates for learning and memory, and in so doing could contribute in important ways to spatial learning and memory deficits that may be relevant to the cognitive deficits associated with childhood epilepsy.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Impact of seizures on developing dendrites: Implications for intellectual developmental disabilities
- Creators
- Jose R. Casanova - Baylor College of MedicineMasataka Nishimura - Texas Childrens Hosp, Jan & Dan Duncan Neurol Res Inst, Cain Fdn Labs, Houston, TX 77030 USAJames W. Owens - Texas Childrens Hosp, Jan & Dan Duncan Neurol Res Inst, Cain Fdn Labs, Houston, TX 77030 USAJohn W. Swann - Texas Childrens Hosp, Jan & Dan Duncan Neurol Res Inst, Cain Fdn Labs, Houston, TX 77030 USA
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Epilepsia (Copenhagen), Vol.53(s1), pp.116-124
- DOI
- 10.1111/j.1528-1167.2012.03482.x
- PMID
- 22612816
- NLM abbreviation
- Epilepsia
- ISSN
- 0013-9580
- eISSN
- 1528-1167
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Number of pages
- 9
- Grant note
- National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NIH/NINDS); United States Department of Health & Human Services; National Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA; NIH National Institute of Neurological Disorders & Stroke (NINDS)
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 06/2012
- Academic Unit
- Stead Family Department of Pediatrics; Neurology (Pediatrics)
- Record Identifier
- 9984701551202771
Metrics
2 Record Views