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Acta Neurol Scand 2021 May 13. Epub 2021 May 13.

Department of Neurology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.

Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) with enlargement of the amygdala (AE) is a distinct clinical entity with contrasting clinical features from TLE with hippocampal sclerosis (HS). The objectives of this systematic analysis were to study the clinical characteristics and treatment outcome of people with TLE with AE. Pubmed, Embase, Cochrane, Web of Science, Scopus, and Medline were searched using the keywords amygdala enlargement, temporal lobe epilepsy, epilepsy, and seizure in November 2020. Read More

Cereb Cortex 2021 May 14. Epub 2021 May 14.

Department of Physiology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60611, USA.

The decreased expression of the KCC2 membrane transporter in subicular neurons has been proposed to be a key epileptogenic event in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Here, we have addressed this question in a reduced model in vitro and have studied the properties and mechanistic involvement of a major class of interneurons, that is, parvalbumin-expressing cells (PVs). When exposed to the KCC2 blocker VU0463271, mouse subicular slices generated hypersynchronous discharges that could be recorded electrophysiologically and visualized as clusters of co-active neurons with calcium imaging. Read More

Sci Rep 2021 May 13;11(1):10257. Epub 2021 May 13.

Department of Pediatrics, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, 05403-900, Brazil.

In about a third of the patients with epilepsy the seizures are not drug-controlled. The current limitation of the antiepileptic drug therapy derives from an insufficient understanding of epilepsy pathophysiology. In order to overcome this situation, it is necessary to consider epilepsy as a disturbed network of interactions, instead of just looking for changes in single molecular components. Read More

Sci Rep 2021 May 13;11(1):10199. Epub 2021 May 13.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging Core Facility, IDIBAPS, Barcelona, Spain.

Glutamic acid decarboxylase 65 antibodies (anti-GAD65) have been found in patients with late-onset chronic temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). No prior neuroimaging studies have addressed how they affect hippocampal volume and shape and how they relate to cognitive abnormalities. We aimed to investigate both brain structure and function in patients with isolated TLE and high anti-GAD65 levels (RIA ≥ 2000 U/ml) compared to 8 non-immune mesial TLE (niTLE) and 8 healthy controls (HC). Read More

Seizure 2021 May 1;89:38-40. Epub 2021 May 1.

Epilepsy Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.

Objectives: The aim of the current study was to compare the frequency of significant head injuries in three groups of people with seizures [idiopathic generalized epilepsies (IGE) vs. temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) vs. functional seizures (FS)]. Read More

Neurosci Lett 2021 May 9:135948. Epub 2021 May 9.

Neuroscience Program, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil; Department of Pharmacology, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Electronic address:

Introduction: Epilepsy is a common pathological condition that predisposes individuals to seizures, as well as cognitive and emotional dysfunctions. Different studies have demonstrated that inflammation contributes to the pathophysiology of epilepsy. Indeed, seizures change the peripheral inflammatory pattern, which, in turn, could contribute to seizures. Read More

Cell Rep 2021 May;35(6):109106

Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia; Joint Center for Neuroscience and Neural Engineering and Department of Biology, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province 518055, P.R. China. Electronic address:

Synchronized activity in neural circuits, detected as oscillations in the extracellular field potential, has been associated with learning and memory. Neural circuits in the basolateral amygdala (BLA), a mid-temporal lobe structure, generate oscillations in specific frequency bands to mediate emotional memory functions. However, how BLA circuits generate oscillations in distinct frequency bands is not known. Read More

Turk Neurosurg 2020 Oct 26. Epub 2020 Oct 26.

Ankara University School of Medicine, Department of Neurosurgery, Ankara, Turkey.

Aim: Although different surgical approaches to the mesial temporal area are used, the best surgical approach to treat temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) has not been established yet. Therefore, resective surgery is currently considered to be the most effective treatment for medically intractable TLE. The aim of this study is to evaluate the long-term efficacy of TLE surgery and to emphasize the factors affecting seizure outcomes such as surgical technique nuances and micro-neuroanatomical details in TLE cases. Read More

Hum Brain Mapp 2021 May 11. Epub 2021 May 11.

School of Computing, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.

Finding clear connectome biomarkers for temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) patients, in particular at early disease stages, remains a challenge. Currently, the whole-brain structural connectomes are analyzed based on coarse parcellations (up to 1,000 nodes). However, such global parcellation-based connectomes may be unsuitable for detecting more localized changes in patients. Read More

Brain Topogr 2021 May 10. Epub 2021 May 10.

Department of Neurology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.

Epilepsy and depression were proposed to facilitate each other reciprocally through common neurobiological anomalies, especially the prefrontal-limbic-subcortical abnormalities. Yet neuroimaging patterns of higher-order cognitive networks and neuroanatomical correlates were rarely compared in temporal lobe epilepsy patients with (TLE-D) and without depression (TLE-N). We collected T1-weighted structural and resting-state functional MRI data from 20 TLE-D, 31 TLE-N and 20 healthy controls (HCs) and performed analyses including hippocampal volume (HCV), cortical thickness, gray matter volume (GMV) and whole-brain functional network connectivity (FNC) across three groups. Read More

Epilepsia 2021 May 10. Epub 2021 May 10.

University College Hospital, London, UK.

Objective: Although group studies provide some support for the material-specific model of memory function, there are considerable individual variations in memory function in people with temporal lobe epilepsy, even in those with the same underlying pathology. In this proof-of-concept study, we examined the sensitivity and specificity of a single measure of an individual's relative strength for the encoding of verbal or visual learning.

Methods: Six hundred ninety-two patients with left hemisphere language dominance and unilateral hippocampal sclerosis completed verbal and visual encoding tasks with similar test structures as part of their presurgical evaluation. Read More

Epilepsy Res 2021 Apr 9;174:106638. Epub 2021 Apr 9.

Department of Radiology, Sanbo Brain Hospital, Capital Medical University, China. Electronic address:

Purpose: This study aims to compare the performance of an MRI-based composite index (HSI) with conventional MRI-based measures in hippocampal sclerosis (HS) detection and postoperative outcome estimation.

Methods: Seventy-two temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) patients with pathologically confirmed HS and fifteen TLE patients without HS were included retrospectively. The T1-weighted and FLAIR images of these patients were processed with AccuBrain to quantify the hippocampal volume (HV) and the hippocampal FLAIR signal. Read More

World Neurosurg 2021 May 5. Epub 2021 May 5.

Epileptogenic encephaloceles, most frequently located in the temporal lobe, are a known lesional cause of focal epilepsy. Data are limited regarding diagnosis, management, and outcomes of patients with epilepsy in the setting of an encephalocele, as the literature is mostly comprised of case reports, case series, and retrospective studies. We conducted a broad literature review for manuscripts related to encephaloceles and epilepsy regardless of level of evidence. Read More

Neuropsychologia 2021 May 5:107882. Epub 2021 May 5.

Center for Biobehavioral Health, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, United States of America; Department of Pediatrics, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, OH, United States of America.

Individuals with epilepsy often experience social difficulties and deficits in social cognition. It remains unknown how disruptions to neural networks underlying such skills may contribute to this clinical phenotype. The current study compared the organization of relevant brain circuits-the "mentalizing network" and a salience-related network centered on the amygdala-in youth with and without epilepsy. Read More

Clin Neurol Neurosurg 2021 Apr 20;205:106644. Epub 2021 Apr 20.

Departments of Neurosurgery, University Hospital of Larissa, School of Medicine, University of Thessaly, Larissa, Greece.

Background: The efficacy of laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT) in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) has not been clearly established yet.

Objective: We conducted a meta-analysis to estimate the efficacy of LITT for TLE (Q1). We also examined the effect of the patient's age (Q2), the total ablation volume (TAV) (Q3), the strength of the MRI unit (Q4), the type of the utilized stereotactic platform (Q5), and the follow up period (Q6) on the patient's outcome. Read More

Brain Behav 2021 May 7:e02169. Epub 2021 May 7.

Beijing Institute of Functional Neurosurgery, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.

Purpose: To evaluate the clinical and stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG) features and postsurgical outcome in a uniform series of patients who underwent epilepsy surgery and had pathologically confirmation of focal cortical dysplasia (FCD).

Methods: We studied consecutive patients with drug-refractory epilepsy who underwent SEEG recording. The high-frequency oscillations (HFOs) features of SEEG, clinical characteristics, and surgical outcome were evaluated. Read More

Curr Top Behav Neurosci 2021 May 7. Epub 2021 May 7.

University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.

Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the type of epilepsy most frequently associated with psychiatric morbidity. Respective surgery for focal epilepsy remains the preferred treatment for medically resistant epilepsy. The aim of this chapter is to review what happens with psychiatric disorders once patients have undergone surgery. Read More

Sci Rep 2021 May 6;11(1):9649. Epub 2021 May 6.

CEITEC - Central European Institute of Technology, Masaryk University, Kamenice 5, 625 00, Brno, Czech Republic.

Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the most common epilepsy type. TLE onset in infancy aggravates features like severity, drug responsiveness, or development of comorbidities. These aggravations may arise from altered micro RNA (miRNA) expression specific to the early onset of the disease. Read More

Neurosurgery 2021 May 6. Epub 2021 May 6.

Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar Lahore, Pakistan.

CNS Neurosci Ther 2021 May 6. Epub 2021 May 6.

Key Laboratory of Neuropharmacology and Translational Medicine of Zhejiang Province, College of Pharmaceutical Science, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China.

Aims: Epilepsy, frequently comorbid with depression, easily develops drug resistance. Here, we investigated how dorsal raphe (DR) and its 5-HTergic neurons are implicated in epilepsy.

Methods: In mouse hippocampal kindling model, using immunochemistry, calcium fiber photometry, and optogenetics, we investigated the causal role of DR 5-HTergic neurons in seizure of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Read More

J Neuroimaging 2021 May 6. Epub 2021 May 6.

Epilepsy Unit, Department of Neurology, Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, Barcelona, Spain.

Background And Purpose: Glutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies (GAD-Ab) are sometimes associated with chronic drug-resistant focal epilepsy. Clinically, it may manifest as mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE), with GAD-Ab patients difficult to distinguish. Therefore, the aim of this study is to compare brain metabolism of patients with mTLE and high serum titers of GAD-Ab (>2000 UI/ml) to those with mTLE and hippocampal sclerosis (HS) and confirmed GAD-ab negativity. Read More

Epilepsia 2021 May 6. Epub 2021 May 6.

Institute of Cellular Neurosciences, Medical Faculty, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.

Objective: Growing evidence suggests that dysfunctional astrocytes are crucial players in the development of mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE). Using a mouse model closely recapitulating key alterations of chronic human MTLE with hippocampal sclerosis, here we asked whether death of astrocytes contributes to the initiation of the disease and investigated potential underlying molecular mechanisms.

Methods: Antibody staining was combined with confocal imaging and semiquantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis to identify markers of different cellular death mechanisms between 4 h and 3 days after epilepsy induction. Read More

Epilepsia 2021 May 6. Epub 2021 May 6.

Department of Neuroimmunology, Center for Brain Research, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.

Objective: Medial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) is a drug-resistant focal epilepsy that can be caused by a broad spectrum of different inciting events, including tumors, febrile seizures, and viral infections. In human epilepsy surgical resections as well as in animal models, an involvement of the adaptive immune system was observed. We here analyzed the presence of T cells in various subgroups of MTLE. Read More

Brain Behav 2021 May 5:e02140. Epub 2021 May 5.

Swiss Epilepsy Center, Zurich, Switzerland.

Background And Objective: Although avatars are now widely used in advertisement, entertainment, and business today, no study has investigated whether brain lesions in neurological patients interfere with brain activation in response to dynamic avatar facial expressions. The aim of our event-related fMRI study was to compare brain activation differences in people with epilepsy and controls during the processing of fearful and neutral dynamic expressions displayed by human or avatar faces.

Methods: Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined brain responses to dynamic facial expressions of trained actors and their avatar look-alikes in 16 people with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and 26 controls. Read More

Brain Sci 2021 Apr 29;11(5). Epub 2021 Apr 29.

Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, Seirei Hamamatsu General Hospital, 2-12-12 Sumiyoshi, Nakaku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka 430-8558, Japan.

Background: Improved conversational fluency is sometimes identified postoperatively in patients with epilepsy, but improvements can be difficult to assess using tests such as the intelligence quotient (IQ) test. Evaluation of pre- and postoperative differences might be considered subjective at present because of the lack of objective criteria. Artificial intelligence (AI) could possibly be used to make the evaluations more objective. Read More

Neurol Sci 2021 May 4. Epub 2021 May 4.

Department of Neurology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, 39 Huaxiang Road, Shenyang, 110022, China.

Background: The interictal discharges of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) can be unilateral or bilateral. In addition, the ictal electroencephalogram (EEG) showed the discharges also tend to spread to the contralateral brain in TLE.

Objective: The factors influencing unilateral and bilateral interictal discharges in TLE as well as ictal diffusion patterns in scalp EEG during onset of seizure were evaluated in the present study. Read More

Cereb Cortex 2021 May 4. Epub 2021 May 4.

Department of Epilepsy, Movement Disorders and Physiology, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan.

Convergent evidence has demonstrated that semantics are represented by the interaction between a multimodal semantic hub at the anterior temporal lobe (ATL) and other modality-specific association cortical areas. Electrocorticogram (ECoG) recording with high spatiotemporal resolutions is efficient in evaluating such cortical interactions; however, this has not been a focus of preceding studies. The present study evaluated cortical interactions during picture naming using a novel ECoG cross-spectrum analysis, which was formulated from a computational simulation of neuronal networks and combined with a vector space model of semantics. Read More

Epilepsia 2021 May 3. Epub 2021 May 3.

Epilepsy Center Hessen, Department of Neurology, Philipps University Marburg, Marburg, Germany.

Objective: This study was undertaken to identify temporal encephaloceles (TEs) and examine their characteristics in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and extratemporal lobe epilepsy (ETLE), as well as in asymptomatic cases.

Methods: Four hundred fifty-eight magnetic resonance imaging scans were examined retrospectively to identify TE in 157 patients with TLE, 150 patients with ETLE, and 151 healthy controls (HCs).

Results: At least one TE was identified in 9. Read More

Neuroradiology 2021 May 3. Epub 2021 May 3.

Department of Neurology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate how the functional homotopy and further functional connectivity (FC) of whole brain changed in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). We also evaluated which brain regions played a decisive role in classification by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Methods: Patients with TLE and matched healthy controls were included to collect the fMRI data and perform the voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC) and FC analyses. Read More

Quant Imaging Med Surg 2021 May;11(5):1782-1795

Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.

Background: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) changes in hippocampal sclerosis (HS) could be subtle in a significant proportion of mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE) patients. In this study, we aimed to document the structural and functional changes in the hippocampus and amygdala seen in HS patients.

Methods: Quantitative features of the hippocampus and amygdala were extracted from structural MRI data in 66 mTLE patients and 28 controls. Read More