Conditional Deletion of TrkB Prevents Epileptogenesis in the Kindling Model.

Epilepsy is a common and frequently devastating neurological disorder, affecting approximately 1% of the population. Among the diverse forms, limbic epilepsy (synonyms include complex partial epilepsy, temporal lobe epilepsy, psychomotor epilepsy) in particular is the most devastating in adults for three reasons: (1) it is common, accounting for approximately 40% of all cases of adult epilepsy; (2) limbic seizures are often quite resistant to available anticonvulsant drugs;1 and (3) the attacks induce impairment of consciousness, thereby limiting driving, maintaining employment, etc. Therapy is only symptomatic in that available drugs inhibit seizures in some individuals but do not modify the disease itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]