Researchers at the University of Veracruz (UV), in the west coast of Mexico, have studied the neurobiological link between autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and epilepsy in order to understand why the brain of an autistic child is 20-30 percent more susceptible to seizures that an infant without the condition.
To understand the relationship, Angel Alberto Puig Lagunes, a doctoral student in Brain Research of the UV works with two experimental models, one with autism and the other of epilepsy. Thirty percent of autistic people may have some form of epilepsy at some point in their lives, especially during childhood and adolescence.
The research seeks to understand the differences in the amount of neurotransmitters and receptors that may determine susceptibility to seizures. "If we know what happens in the brain structures of lab rats using these models, we can generate new insights into the characteristics that patients with ASD present that make them more susceptible to having seizures and may in the future provide new drugs or non-pharmacological interventions treatments for such illness," says Angel Puig.
The World Health Organization estimates that worldwide, one in 160 children under 12 years of age has autism. In Mexico, there are about 46,000 people with this disease.
The specialist says that one to 1.5 percent of the global population have epilepsy, equivalent to 50 million people. Epidemiological data indicate that between 20 and 35 percent of children with autism have this condition; however, the neurobiological causes of such comorbidity are yet unknown.
In response, Puig Lagunes, in collaboration with Maria Leonor López-Meraz, Jorge Manzo Denes and Rebeca Toledo Cárdenas, assess neurochemical changes that occur in brain structures such as the hippocampus, amygdala, cerebellum and frontal cortex exposed to valproic acid, areas involved in autism and epilepsy.
The researcher analyzes seizures through drugs like pentylenetetrazol, used to induce crisis, and valproic acid, an anticonvulsant that is applied prenatally to rats, since research has shown that when it is administered to a pregnant woman there is greater likelihood that her child will be born with ASD or congenital malformations.
With this method, the researchers study whether fetuses exposed to the drug are more susceptible to presenting seizures, allowing them to identify at a neurobiological level what happens in the brain of an autistic person.
The results of this research show that like children with autism, laboratory rats that were prenatally exposed to valproic acid are more susceptible to presenting tonic-chronic seizures, common in people with generalized epilepsy.
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Researchers at the University of Veracruz (UV), in the west coast of Mexico, have studied the neurobiological link between autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and epilepsy in order to understand why the brain of an autistic child is 20-30 percent more susceptible to seizures that an infant without the condition.
To understand the relationship, Angel Alberto Puig Lagunes, a doctoral student in Brain Research of the UV works with two experimental models, one with autism and the other of epilepsy. Thirty percent of autistic people may have some form of epilepsy at some point in their lives, especially during childhood and adolescence.
The research seeks to understand the differences in the amount of neurotransmitters and receptors that may determine susceptibility to seizures. "If we know what happens in the brain structures of lab rats using these models, we can generate new insights into the characteristics that patients with ASD present that make them more susceptible to having seizures and may in the future provide new drugs or non-pharmacological interventions treatments for such illness," says Angel Puig.
The World Health Organization estimates that worldwide, one in 160 children under 12 years of age has autism. In Mexico, there are about 46,000 people with this disease.
The specialist says that one to 1.5 percent of the global population have epilepsy, equivalent to 50 million people. Epidemiological data indicate that between 20 and 35 percent of children with autism have this condition; however, the neurobiological causes of such comorbidity are yet unknown.
In response, Puig Lagunes, in collaboration with Maria Leonor López-Meraz, Jorge Manzo Denes and Rebeca Toledo Cárdenas, assess neurochemical changes that occur in brain structures such as the hippocampus, amygdala, cerebellum and frontal cortex exposed to valproic acid, areas involved in autism and epilepsy.
The researcher analyzes seizures through drugs like pentylenetetrazol, used to induce crisis, and valproic acid, an anticonvulsant that is applied prenatally to rats, since research has shown that when it is administered to a pregnant woman there is greater likelihood that her child will be born with ASD or congenital malformations.
With this method, the researchers study whether fetuses exposed to the drug are more susceptible to presenting seizures, allowing them to identify at a neurobiological level what happens in the brain of an autistic person.
The results of this research show that like children with autism, laboratory rats that were prenatally exposed to valproic acid are more susceptible to presenting tonic-chronic seizures, common in people with generalized epilepsy.
Explore further: Brain stimulation counteracts dangerous side effect of seizures
Medical Xpress on facebook
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Research discovers link between epilepsy and autism
(Medical Xpress)—University of Bath researchers have found a previously undiscovered link between epileptic seizures and the signs of autism in adults.
Brain stimulation counteracts dangerous side effect of seizures
Loss of consciousness is a common and dangerous side effect of epileptic seizures. A new Yale-led study, however, shows that activation of electrodes in key brain areas can awaken rats with induced seizures.
Study finds novel compound switches off epilepsy development
Researchers at the LSU Health New Orleans Neuroscience Center of Excellence have found that a novel compound they discovered helps curtail the onset and progression of temporal lobe epilepsy. The finding, which may contribute ...
Preventing autism after epilepsy
(Medical Xpress) -- Early-life seizures are known to be associated with autism, and studies indicate that about 40 percent of patients with autism also have epilepsy. A study from Boston Children’s Hospital finds a reason ...
Epilepsy sufferers will one day live without seizures, says expert
A leading epilepsy expert at Royal Holloway, University of London, has said there is a pressing need for new and more effective treatments that would make it possible for all sufferers to live seizure free.
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Broken cellular communication in brain contributes to Huntington's disease symptoms, study finds
Indiana University researchers have found that broken communication in a specific part of the brain plays a role in the involuntary physical movements that affect individuals with Huntington's disease.
Brain's 'lowly' visual processor is more sophisticated than once thought
When managing, assigning each task to a specialist is often the most efficient strategy. Most researchers regard the brain as working similarly, with each region specialized to a given task. But Johns Hopkins ...
Characteristic pattern of protein deposits in brains of retired NFL players who suffered concussions
A new UCLA study takes another step toward the early understanding of a degenerative brain condition called chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, which affects athletes in contact sports who are exposed ...
Brain activity boosts processes that promote neural connections
Brain activity affects the way the developing brain connects neurons and a study by researchers at the School of Medicine on the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and Children's Hospital Colorado ...
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