Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
1-2
pubmed:dateCreated
1998-12-29
pubmed:abstractText
We studied physiological properties of glial cells from acute slices of biopsies from patients operated for intractable mesio-temporal lobe epilepsy using whole-cell patch-clamp recordings. Cells were filled with Lucifer Yellow (LY) during recordings to allow morphological reconstruction and immunohistochemical cell identification. Seizure-associated astrocytes had complex, arborized, highly branched processes giving them a stellate appearance, and cells stained intensely for the intermediate filament GFAP as previously reported for 'reactive' astrocytes. GFAP-positive astrocytes from epilepsy biopsies consistently expressed voltage-activated, TTX-sensitive Na+ channels that showed fast activation and inactivation kinetics. Unlike comparison astrocytes, derived from tissues that were not associated with seizure foci, these astrocytes expressed Na+ channels at densities sufficient to generate slow action potentials (spikes) in current clamp studies. In these cells, the ratio of Na+ to K+ conductance was consistently 3-4-fold higher than in comparison human or control rat astrocytes. Four of 17 astrocytes from epilepsy patients versus 14/14 from control rat hippocampus and four of five in comparison human tissue showed a lack of inwardly rectifying K+ currents, which in normal astrocytes are implicated in the control of extracellular K+ levels. These results suggest that astrocytes surrounding seizure foci differ in morphological and physiological properties, and that glial K+ buffering could be impaired at the seizure focus, thus contributing to the pathophysiology of seizures.
pubmed:grant
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Sep
pubmed:issn
0920-1211
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
32
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
286-303
pubmed:dateRevised
2007-11-14
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
1998
pubmed:articleTitle
Properties of human glial cells associated with epileptic seizure foci.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Neurobiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 35294, USA.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, In Vitro, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.