Irish scientists have identified a potential method of preventing damaging epilepsy-related seizure activity.

A multidisciplinary team of geneticists, neurologists, neuropathologists and neurosurgeons from Trinity College Dublin, RCSI, St James’s Hospital, Beaumont Hospital and Uppsala University in Sweden were involved in the study, which marks a major advance in our understanding of epilepsy.

Epilepsy is a chronic disorder of the central nervous system that affects approximately 1% of the population and 50 million people worldwide. It is characterised by recurrent, spontaneous seizures caused by disrupted electrical activity in the brain.

The brain accounts for just 2% of human body mass, however it expends almost 20% of the body’s daily energy production. In order to maintain this high energy demand, brain cells are nourished by an intricate network of capillaries that form the so-called blood-brain barrier (BBB).

Such is the extent of these capillaries, it is estimated that every brain cell is essentially nourished by its own capillary.

The scientists believe that it is disruption to the integrity of these capillaries and the BBB that is a key driver of seizure activity in humans. Promisingly though, their new research shows that restoring this integrity can prevent seizures.

“Our findings suggest that designing medicines aimed at stabilising the integrity of blood vessels in the brain may hold promise in treating patients who are currently non-responsive to anti-seizure medications.

“This work represents one of the first conclusive studies that pinpoints a key feature of seizures that has to date not been studied in great molecular detail,” explained Dr Matthew Campbell of TCD’s School of Genetics and Microbiology.

This research was translational in nature and included both basic and clinical research arms involving patients diagnosed with epilepsy. Using similar techniques in humans and in pre-clinical models, the scientists were able to show that BBB disruption was a key driver of seizure activity.  

They were also able to show that restoring BBB integrity could prevent seizures and it is this finding that holds real potential when it comes to moving towards a real and meaningful therapy for people with epilepsy.

“We are excited about the potential our findings hold for advancing the field of epilepsy research as well as other neurological conditions. In fact, stabilising the integrity of blood vessels in the brain could have relevance for a wide range of other diseases and we are just at the beginning of the process in driving the research forward,” commented the study’s first author and postdoctoral research fellow, Dr Chris Greene.

This research is published in the journal, Nature Communications.