Researchers at Western University are unlocking the key to why stress leads to increased seizures in epilepsy patients.
Michael O. Poulter, professor in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at Western’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry says the disease produces changes in neuronal signaling that increases seizure occurrence by converting a beneficial stress response into an epileptic trigger.
Poulter and his team studied a neurotransmitter called corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) that coordinates many behavioural responses to stress in the central nervous system. Using a rat-model of epilepsy, they examined the effect of this neurotransmitter on the piriform cortex, a region of the brain that easily supports seizures in humans.
This research may be used to help to treat patients as it points to the possibility that CRF-blocking drugs would prevent stress-induced seizures.
“We are very excited about this possibility for treating epilepsy patients,” said Poulter. The broader implications are that brain diseases may induce changes in other neurochemical processes that make disorders like depression or schizophrenia worse than they might otherwise be.”
