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Neuropediatrics 2013; 44(06): 330-335
DOI: 10.1055/s-0033-1358601
Review Article
Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Immunity Activation in Brain Cells in Epilepsy: Mechanistic Insights and Pathological Consequences

Teresa Ravizza
1   Department of Neuroscience, IRCCS-Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche “Mario Negri,” Milano, Italy
,
Chrysaugi Kostoula
1   Department of Neuroscience, IRCCS-Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche “Mario Negri,” Milano, Italy
,
Annamaria Vezzani
1   Department of Neuroscience, IRCCS-Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche “Mario Negri,” Milano, Italy
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

09 July 2013

28 August 2013

Publication Date:
28 October 2013 (online)

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Abstract

The search of targets for developing novel drugs that can control seizures resistant to available treatments in children and adults represents a great challenge for basic science. In the past decade, emerging evidence pointed out to the crucial role played by glia, the innate immunity brain-resident cells, in the generation of hyperexcitable neuronal networks underlying seizures. Molecular and pharmacological studies targeting glia, and the inflammatory mediators released by these cells in experimental models of epilepsy, highlighted novel targets for drug intervention aimed at interfering with the disease mechanisms, therefore providing putative disease-modifying treatments. This article will focus on the role of immunity activation in the brain and the concomitant release by glia of inflammatory molecules with neuromodulatory properties, in the pathogenesis of epileptic seizures, cell loss, and comorbidities.

Keywords

inflammation - glia - epilepsy
 

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