Just as each musician in an orchestra contributes to the overall sound of a musical piece, different types of nerve cells in the brain make up the symphony of our consciousness. If this precise system is thrown off balance, diseases can develop. Together with colleagues from the Bernstein Center Berlin, the Bernstein Center Freiburg and eleven other institutions, Prof. Jochen Meier from the Max Delbrück Center has now gained new insight into epilepsy, showing why the disease may present with different symptoms.
The research focus of the work is on the so-called glycine receptor. This receptor is changed on the molecular level in one of the most common forms of epilepsy, and increasingly appears in the hippocampus—a brain region that triggers seizures in most patients at later stages of the disease. To study the impact of the altered glycine receptor on different nerve cells, the scientists developed a new animal model of epilepsy. This allowed them to express this receptor specifically in selected nerve cell types of the hippocampus and to investigate how it affects cognitive function and mood-related behavior. The new animal model suggests that the same receptor contributes to a wide range of symptoms in epilepsy patients—such as cognitive dysfunction or anxiety—depending on the type of nerve cell in which it is expressed.
Read more in the complete press release by Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (Link).