Upon satisfying any of the following criteria, a clinical diagnosis of epilepsy disease can be given to a patient: (1) the patient encounters at least two unprovoked or reflex seizures that are separated by a duration of more than 24 h or (2) the patient encounters one unprovoked or reflex seizure and shows a likelihood of suffering another seizure comparable to the general risk of recurrence of having two unprovoked seizures over the subsequent 10 years (i.e., a probability of more than 60%) or (3) the patient has an epilepsy syndrome (i.e., complex signs and symptoms unique to epilepsy conditions and (4) it occurs as an isolated event for a few seconds. An epileptic seizure, a hallmark feature of epilepsy disease, is defined conceptually as: “a transient occurrence of signs and/or symptoms” that are the clinical manifestation of “abnormal excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain”.

Although initially termed a disorder, the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) redefined it as a disease to accentuate its significance and effect on the general population of patients and clinicians. Further, we discuss the recent development in the therapeutic management of epilepsy and provide a briefing on the challenges and caveats in identifying and testing species-specific epilepsy models.Įpilepsy, a heterogeneous group of brain-related diseases distinguished by a lasting susceptibility to generating epileptic seizures, has continued to significantly burden society and families. For these genes, the progress made in developing appropriate and valid rodent models to accelerate basic research is also detailed.

Comprehensive emphasis is put on some key neurodevelopmental genes implicated in epilepsy, such as MeCP2, SYNGAP1, FMR1, SHANK1-3 and TSC1, along with a few others, and the main electrophysiological and behavioral deficits are highlighted. In this review, we sought to elucidate the basic causes underlying epilepsy as well as those contributing to the association of epilepsy with NDDs. Although the field has received much attention from the scientific community recently, the research has not yet translated into actionable therapeutics to completely cure epilepsy, particularly those comorbid with NDDs. Epilepsy comorbid with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) is believed to occur due to multifaceted pathophysiological mechanisms involving disruptions in the excitation and inhibition (E/I) balance impeding widespread functional neuronal circuitry. Epilepsy, a heterogeneous group of brain-related diseases, has continued to significantly burden society and families.

Altered species full movie