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Some types of epilepsy are progressive, and the disease progression may manifest in the form of more frequent seizures, worsened control of seizures, or decline of cognition.[1] Progression of seizures has a direct correlation to the severity of epilepsy as time progresses.[2] Multiple factors may contribute to how seizures progress, but one factor that had not been investigated is a change, (known as plasticity), in the white matter or myelin of the brain. Myelin is a substance that acts as a form of insulation around the nerve cells of the brain and is essential for the conduction of electrical impulses between neurons and for the proper functioning of the brain. In fact, this white coating of myelin is what gives the collection of axons deep inside the brain the name “white matter”. Plasticity or changes in myelination can occur in response to neuronal activity and are important in the non-epileptic brain for functions such as learning, memory, and attention.[3,4] The team found that seizures in newborn infants with genetic forms of epilepsy may be associated with abnormalities in myelination.[5] These findings suggested that myelin plasticity might also occur in response to seizures.
With funding from the CURE Epilepsy Taking Flight Award, Dr. Knowles and her colleagues sought to determine whether changes in myelination caused by a type of seizure called an absence seizure (formerly known as a petit mal seizure) contribute to the progression of epilepsy.[6] And when COVID-19 forced this study to be put on a temporary hold, the CURE Epilepsy Research Continuity Fund award, generously funded by the Cotton Family in memory of Vivian Cotton, helped Dr. Knowles’ team to finish these experiments when laboratories reopened. For her study, Dr. Knowles hypothesized that changes in myelin might influence seizure severity in absence seizure spreading.
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