Differential Susceptibility of Interneurons Expressing Neuropeptide Y or Parvalbumin in the Aged Hippocampus to Acute Seizure Activity

Acute seizure (AS) activity in old age has an increased predisposition for evolving into temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Furthermore, spontaneous seizures and cognitive dysfunction after AS activity are often intense in the aged population than in young adults. This could be due to an increased vulnerability of inhibitory interneurons in the aged hippocampus to AS activity. We investigated this issue by comparing the survival of hippocampal GABA-ergic interneurons that contain the neuropeptide Y (NPY) or the calcium binding protein parvalbumin (PV) between young adult (5-months old) and aged (22-months old) F344 rats at 12 days after three-hours of AS activity. Graded intraperitoneal injections of the kainic acid (KA) induced AS activity and a diazepam injection at 3 hours after the onset terminated AS-activity. Measurement of interneuron numbers in different hippocampal subfields revealed that NPY+ interneurons were relatively resistant to AS activity in the aged hippocampus in comparison to the young adult hippocampus. Whereas, PV+ interneurons were highly susceptible to AS activity in both age groups. However, as aging alone substantially depleted these populations, the aged hippocampus after three-hours of AS activity exhibited 48% reductions in NPY+ interneurons and 70% reductions in PV+ interneurons, in comparison to the young hippocampus after similar AS activity. Thus, AS activity-induced TLE in old age is associated with far fewer hippocampal NPY+ and PV+ interneuron numbers than AS-induced TLE in the young adult age. This discrepancy likely underlies the severe spontaneous seizures and cognitive dysfunction observed in the aged people after AS activity

Epilepsy in Dcx Knockout Mice Associated with Discrete Lamination Defects and Enhanced Excitability in the Hippocampus

Patients with Doublecortin (DCX) mutations have severe cortical malformations associated with mental retardation and epilepsy. Dcx knockout (KO) mice show no major isocortical abnormalities, but have discrete hippocampal defects. We questioned the functional consequences of these defects and report here that Dcx KO mice are hyperactive and exhibit spontaneous convulsive seizures. Changes in neuropeptide Y and calbindin expression, consistent with seizure occurrence, were detected in a large proportion of KO animals, and convulsants, including kainate and pentylenetetrazole, also induced seizures more readily in KO mice. We show that the dysplastic CA3 region in KO hippocampal slices generates sharp wave-like activities and possesses a lower threshold for epileptiform events. Video-EEG monitoring also demonstrated that spontaneous seizures were initiated in the hippocampus. Similarly, seizures in human patients mutated for DCX can show a primary involvement of the temporal lobe. In conclusion, seizures in Dcx KO mice are likely to be due to abnormal synaptic transmission involving heterotopic cells in the hippocampus and these mice may therefore provide a useful model to further study how lamination defects underlie the genesis of epileptiform activities

Electrical coupling underlies high-frequency oscillations in the hippocampus in vitro

Coherent oscillations, in which ensembles of neurons fire in a repeated and synchronous manner, are thought to be important in higher brain functions. In the hippocampus, these discharges are categorized according to their frequency as theta (4-10Hz), {gamma} (20-80 Hz) and high-frequency (approximately 200 Hz) discharges, and they occur in relation to different behavioural states. The synaptic bases of theta and {gamma} rhythms have been extensively studied but the cellular bases for high-frequency oscillations are not understood. Here we report that high-frequency network oscillations are present in rat brain slices in vitro, occurring as a brief series of repetitive population spikes at 150-200 Hz in all hippocampal principal cell layers. Moreover, this synchronous activity is not mediated through the more commonly studied modes of chemical synaptic transmission, but is in fact a result of direct electrotonic coupling of neurons, most likely through gap-junctional connections. Thus high-frequency oscillations synchronize the activity of electrically coupled subsets of principal neurons within the well-documented synaptic network of the hippocampus

Seizure-Induced Axonal Sprouting: Assessing Connections Between Injury, Local Circuits, and Epileptogenesis

Neurons and neural circuits undergo extensive structural and functional remodeling in response to seizures. Sprouting of axons in the mossy fiber pathway of the hippocampus is a prominent example of a seizure-induced structural alteration which has received particular attention because it is easily detected, is induced by intense or repeated brief seizures in focal chronic models of epilepsy, and is also observed in the human epileptic hippocampus. During the last decade the association of mossy fiber sprouting with seizures and epilepsy has been firmly established. Many anatomical features of mossy fiber sprouting have been described in considerable detail, and there is evidence that sprouting occurs in a variety of other pathways in association with seizures and injury. There is uncertainty, however, about how or when mossy fiber sprouting may contribute to hippocampal dysfunction and generation of seizures. Study of mossy fiber sprouting has provided a strong theoretical and conceptual framework for efforts to understand how seizures and injury may contribute to epileptogenesis and its consequences. It is likely that investigation of mossy fiber sprouting will continure to offer significant opportunities for insights into seizure-induced plasticity of neural circuits at molecular, cellular, and systems levels