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Query: UMLS:C0036572 (seizures)
 80,221 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Prolactin levels were measured immediately after the seizure in some, and 15 to 20 minutes later in all of 67 children aged between 6 months and 17 years. Values were determined after grand mal, complex partial and petit mal seizures and psychogen seizures. A more than 2 to 3 fold prolactin increase over the baseline value occurred almost always after grand mal and regularly after complex partial seizures. No hyperprolactinaemia was observed after petit mal seizures. Also after psychogenic seizures a rise in serum prolactin failed. The neurophysiological basis underlying this phenomenon is a decrease of gaba- und dopaminergic systems associated with the seizure. The described method is useful in the differential diagnosis of epileptogenic versus psychogenic seizures.
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PMID:[Serum prolactin after cerebral and psychogenic seizures in childhood and adolescence--an additional useful method for differentiating the two forms of seizure]. 161 80

The effects of amygdala-kindled seizures on cognitive function were examined using long-delay flavor-aversion and passive-avoidance conditioning paradigms in rats. Experiments were conducted to compare the functional consequences of unilateral and bilateral kindled seizures (transient deficits) with those due to a kindling history only (persistent deficits). Animals with a history of unilateral or bilateral kindling demonstrated flavor-aversion conditioning that varied inversely with the delay separating saccharin (CS) and lithium (US). Unilateral stimulation during the CS-US interval produced an attenuation of flavor-aversion conditioning that was independent of delay value; bilateral stimulation eliminated conditioning all together. The effects of kindling and kindled seizures on passive-avoidance conditioning were functionally identical. Animals with a history of unilateral kindling demonstrated strong evidence of conditioning with no effect of posttraining seizures. In contrast, animals with a history of bilateral kindling were impaired in a passive-avoidance task. The impairment was evident in the presence or absence of seizure induction during training. Electrographic and behavioral indices of epileptiform activity produced by unilateral and bilateral stimulation failed to reveal any differences in seizure duration or severity. The results support the conclusion that cognitive disruption by amygdala-kindled seizures is task-dependent, does not show a temporal dependence, and cannot be explained on the basis of electrographic or behavioral measures of seizure severity alone.
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PMID:Functional dissociation of acute and persistent cognitive deficits accompanying amygdala-kindled seizures. 162 55

The correlations between sleep and prolonged epileptic activity are discussed on the basis of the status classification of Gastaut (1983). Little information is available on the interrelation of sleep and the status of tonic-clonic seizures (grand mal status). Most important is the therapeutical management of these cases. Tonic seizures have been reported to occur in large numbers during NREM sleep in patients with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. A status-like increase is possible. Tonic seizures occur almost exclusively during sleep. Myoclonic status epilepticus arising (a) in the course of primary generalized epilepsy and (b) in the course of encephalopathies, are usually markedly attenuated during sleep. In absence status (petit mal status) synchronized sleep generally fragments the continuous discharge which is replaced by isolated bursts of polyspikes, or polyspike and wave complexes. The absence status can recur upon awaking during the night or in the morning. The abnormal EEG activity of a petit mal status can, however, occasionally persist during the whole night. Improvement as well as activation during sleep have been observed in elementary (= simple) partial status epilepticus; improvement seems to be more frequent. Epilepsia partialis continua may persist or decrease during sleep. An increase as well as decrease of motor phenomena has been observed during the REM stages. 'Epileptic aphasia' of childhood is associated with subclinical bioelectric status epilepticus during sleep. The electrical status epilepticus must be delineated as a separate group. The term encephalopathy related to electrical status epilepticus during slow sleep (ESES) has been proposed on the basis of associated psychic syndromes. This form of status epilepticus disappears during the waking state and during REM sleep. Cases with hypsarrhythmia without clinical signs may also be classified under the group of electrical or bioelectrical status. In some cases, a continuous hypsarrhythmia is observed only during sleep. In this context, one must also mention those patients who demonstrate continuous activation of spikes, or spike and wave potentials (without clinical seizures) during eye closure.
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PMID:Sleep and prolonged epileptic activity (status epilepticus). 176 86

The concept of 'awakening epilepsy' (introduced by Janz, 1953) occupies a crucial position for the comprehension of primary generalized epilepsy. The associated electroencephalographic manifestations are discussed and the role of abnormal (paroxysmal) arousal responses ('dyshormia') is stressed. The origin of these bilateral-synchronous discharges appears to be located below the frontal midline scalp region in mesial portions of the supplementary motor region. 'Awakening epilepsy' is also interesting from the viewpoint of sleep research. There is also an important age factor; these seizures (mostly grand mal and classical petit mal absences) are most common in older children, adolescents and young adults. The general management of these patients has to take into account the patient's special vulnerability after a night of poor sleep.
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PMID:Awakening epilepsy ('Aufwach-Epilepsie') revisited. 176 98

Absence seizures in humans are characterized by unresponsiveness to external stimuli and inactivity. However, in typical generalized non-convulsive epilepsy in children, intellectual capacities are considered to be normal. Wistar rats from an inbred strain with spontaneous absence-like seizures were compared with rats from the outbred control strain in various behavioral tasks in order to detect possible impairments related either to the absence epilepsy or to occurrence of spike and wave discharges (SWD). Spontaneous circadian locomotion, exploratory activity in an open field, social interactions with an unfamiliar conspecific and mouse killing behavior were similar in both strains. Avoidance learning in a shuttle box or food reinforced learning in a Skinner test were unimpaired or even improved in epileptic rats. During performance of a learned task either in the Skinner box or in a conditioned sound-bar pressing task, SWD were suppressed in epileptic rats as long as they were working for reinforcement. SWD reappeared when the motivation to perform the task had declined: unresponsiveness to a conditioned stimulus was then observed during SWD. These data are in agreement with observations commonly described in children with typical genetic absence epilepsy.
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PMID:Are rats with genetic absence epilepsy behaviorally impaired? 179 57

The quantitative 2-[14C]deoxyglucose autoradiographic method was applied to the measurement of local cerebral metabolic rates for glucose in a model of genetic petit mal-like seizures in a strain of Wistar rats. During the experimental period, epileptic rats exhibited synchronous spike-and-wave discharges recorded from the cerebral cortex, whereas the electroencephalographic pattern of control animals was normal. An overall consistent increase in local cerebral metabolic rates for glucose was observed in epileptic rats as compared to nonepileptic control rats. This increase was statistically significant in 52 of the 59 cerebral structures studied and concerned all cerebral functional systems. These results are in accordance with positron emission tomography measurements in humans with typical childhood absence epilepsy. There is a lack of anatomical correlation between areas demonstrating hypermetabolism and areas where spike-and-wave discharges are recorded. Thus, the diffuse increase in cerebral energy metabolism in epileptic rats as compared to controls is not directly related to the occurrence of spike and wave discharges.
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PMID:Local cerebral glucose utilization in rats with petit mal-like seizures. 189 87

Although seizure models using systemic administration of the chemoconvulsant pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) for induction of generalized clonic seizures in rodents are widely employed to identify potential anticonvulsants, the important role of diverse technical, biological and pharmacological factors in interpretation of results obtained with these models is often not recognized. The aim of this study was to delineate factors other than sex, age, diet, climate, and circadian rhythms, which are generally known. For this purpose, experiments with 8 clinically established antiepileptic drugs were undertaken in the following PTZ models: (1) the threshold for different types of PTZ seizures, i.e., initial myoclonic twitch, generalized clonus with loss of righting reflexes, and tonic backward extension of forelimbs (forelimb tonus), in mice; (2) the traditional PTZ seizure test with s.c. injection of the CD97 for generalized clonic seizures in mice; and (3) the s.c. PTZ seizure test in rats. In rats, in addition to evaluating drug effects on generalized clonic seizures, a ranking system was used to determine drug effects on other seizure types. When drugs were dissolved in vehicles which themselves did not exert effects on seizure susceptibility, the most important factors which influenced drug potencies were: (1) bishaped dose-response curves, i.e., a decline in anticonvulsant dose-response at high doses of some drugs, leading to misinterpretations of drug efficacy if only a single high drug dosage is tested; (2) effects of route of PTZ administration (i.v. infusion vs. s.c. injection) on estimation of anticonvulsant potency; (3) species differences in drug metabolism; (4) differences in drug potencies calculated on the basis of administered doses compared to potency calculations based on 'active' drug concentrations in plasma; (5) qualitative and quantitative species differences in drug actions; (6) endpoints used for PTZ tests; (7) misleading predictions from PTZ seizure models. Analysis of anticonvulsant drug actions indicated that myoclonic or clonic seizures induced by i.v. or s.c. PTZ might be suitable for predicting efficacy against myoclonic petit mal seizures in humans, but certainly not to predict efficacy against absence seizures. Tonic seizures induced by PTZ were blocked by drugs, such as ethosuximide, which exert no effect on tonic seizures in humans. In order to reduce the variability among estimates of anticonvulsant activity in PTZ seizure models, the various factors delineated in this study should be rigidly controlled in experimental situations involving assay of anticonvulsant agents.
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PMID:The role of technical, biological and pharmacological factors in the laboratory evaluation of anticonvulsant drugs. III. Pentylenetetrazole seizure models. 190 9

Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME), a common form of idiopathic generalized epilepsy, has a distinct clinical and electroencephalographic profile. Often JME is not recognized, with serious consequences on the sufferers. We examined factors contributing to the missed diagnosis even in an epilepsy clinic. Of 70 JME patients, 66 (91.4%) were not diagnosed on referral and 22 (33%) were not initially recognized in the epilepsy clinic. The correct diagnosis was established after a mean of 8.3 +/- 5.5 years from disease onset and an interval of 17.7 +/- 10.4 months from first evaluation in the epilepsy clinic. Myoclonic jerks, the hallmark of the disease, were not usually reported by patients. Similarly, relevant questioning may not be included in the history. Absence seizures antedating jerks by many years, myoclonic jerks reported as unilateral, generalized tonic-clonic seizures occurring during sleep and focal EEG abnormalities are other factors contributing to not recognizing JME. Our study reemphasizes the need to have not only a correct seizure diagnosis but also a correct epilepsy-disease diagnosis.
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PMID:Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy: factors of error involved in the diagnosis and treatment. 191 75

The experimental literature has dealt intensively with the cortical contribution to epilepsy. Possibly because of the direction of technological advance, much less attention has been paid to the role of other structures. A model which emphasizes the role of some of those non-cortical structures, specifically that of thalamocortical modulation of cortical excitability, is developed. Some aspects of the petit mal seizure, a seizure type considered by some investigators to involve thalamocortical mechanisms, are predicted by the model. Although the thalamocortical mechanisms under study are not the only mechanisms underlying seizures, a full understanding of the phenomenology of epilepsy needs to take into account the role of subcortical modification of cortical activities in addition to other mechanisms. Gloor has described two types of epileptogenesis: type I characteristic of non-convulsive seizures and type II characteristics of convulsions. There is disagreement as to whether or not the two mechanisms represent qualitatively different phenomena. Utilizing the thalamocortical model, it can be shown that the two types of epileptogenesis are qualitatively different. Furthermore, the thalamocortical model leads to a possible explanation of clinically different profiles of antiepileptic efficacy of medications.
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PMID:The thalamocortical contribution to epilepsy. 193 28

Clonazepam is a potent, long-acting benzodiazepine approved for use in myoclonic and petit mal seizures. Initial reports have demonstrated encouraging results with clonazepam in the treatment of acute mania as well as a favorable side-effect profile. A trial of adjunctive clonazepam was initiated in a 41-year-old patient with chronic schizophrenia. Two weeks later, while on an 8-mg dosage, he became manic, developing pressured speech, euphoria, inflated esteem, agitation, and insomnia. Initiation of electroconvulsive therapy with gradual tapering and discontinuation of the clonazepam resulted in amelioration of the manic episode and a return to his previous clinical status. Clinicians should be alerted to the potential of clonazepam to cause manic-like behavior in susceptible patients.
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PMID:Mania associated with clonazepam. 194 70


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