Results of research on Epilepsy

New epilepsy research on how the brain responds to seizures has been presented at Ireland’s first Neuroscience Ireland meeting.

Dr David Henshall, senior lecturer in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), conducted the epilepsy research, which found that new genes involved in cell death could provide therapeutic opportunities for the treatment of brain injury associated with epilepsy.

“We know that certain seizures can harm the brain so neuroprotective treatments are an attractive goal if we can understand the cell death process,” Dr Henshall told the meeting, which was held last week.

“We’re seeing activation of Bcl-2 family genes, previously implicated in cell suicide within parts of the brain at risk of damage during an episode. When these genes are knocked out, we can influence the harmful effect of the seizure. Because we’re seeing these genes respond in brain samples from patients with drug-resistant epilepsy, we are collaborating with Dr Norman Delanty, at Beaumont Hospital and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) to look for mutations in these genes in the Irish epilepsy population.

“We hope this approach will lead us to new therapeutic targets to reduce brain injury and prevent seizures in patients with epilepsy,” Dr Henshall said.

Over 150 neuroscientists from Ireland and other countries attended the meeting, held in University College Cork (UCC).