What is epilepsy
Epilepsy is described by the unpredictable seizure that can cause other health issues. It is a spectrum condition with the wide range of seizure types. This neurological disorder affects people of all age groups.
It is a chronic disorder and a person is diagnosed with the epilepsy if it has two unprovoked seizure or one unprovoked seizure with the likelihood of more (not caused by some known medical condition like extremely low blood sugar level or alcohol withdrawal). It might be related to some brain injury and family tendency. Mostly the people with the epilepsy have more than one type of seizure and also some other symptoms of neurological problems. Often the causes of epilepsy are mysterious.
Rewiring the brain to fight epilepsy
According to a scientific analysis the connection between the brain cells was studied in the Paradis’s lab by its former graduate Ph.D. student Daniel Acker with Mihwal Kang and Irene Wong. In their research synapses they assist the brain cells signal movement from one cell to another. Though, others are inhibitory, spoiled conduction. In an epileptic seizure, excitation and inhibition balance goes out of clout, supporting excitation. It results in the excessive electrical activity with impermanent loss of consciousness, uninhibited seizures.
Paradis group in this research drove the group of mice having the similar epileptic human symptoms. These mice brain were infused with the Sema4-D. Sema4D is a protein isolated by the Paradis several years ago. Its infusion in the mice results in the reduction in the severity of their seizures. Further study shows that it increases the brains overall confrontation to seizure by enhancing the amount of inhibitory synapses.
In their journal published this spring they researchers said that they initiate neurons to accumulate the high inhibitory synapses in brain to conquer seizure. This method may help in defeating the hyper excitability in seizure and prevent the establishment of epilepsy. In near future Sema4D could be used as an anti-epileptic drug in combination with the others like benzodiazepines. But still it’s unknown that this approach succeeded in humans or not but the working of the general approach is the actual exhilaration.
