Brain Changes Associated with the Development of
Post-Traumatic Epilepsy (PTE)
Research from the CURE Epilepsy PTE Initiative team at Virginia Tech has identified several changes in the brain that are associated with the development of PTE after a traumatic brain injury (TBI). The team examined changes in brain activity, cellular changes, and changes in the number of neurons in the brain after the development of PTE. The team found significant cellular and molecular changes in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus, an area of the brain that has been implicated in seizure development. For example, the team found significant loss of neurons that inhibit brain activity, which may be important because seizures involve too much brain excitation, as well as changes in the structure of astroglia, which are cells that help regulate the transmission of signals between neurons in the brain. These findings suggest that changes in the dentate gyrus may contribute to the development of PTE following TBI.