New research successfully reverses epilepsy-associated pathology by using a sophisticated single-cell modeling paradigm to examine abnormal cell behavior and identify the optimal modulation of channel activity.... a procedure that may be useful for rescuing function in organs with excitable cells, such as the heart and pancreas.
Ion channels regulate the flow of ions into and out of the cell and are absolutely critical for a wide range of biological processes, including transmission of signals in the nervous system. Disrupting ion channel function can have disastrous consequences. For example, the severe neurological disorder
epilepsy is characterized by spontaneous and recurrent seizures that are thought to be linked with ion channel dysfunction.
...the optimization method revealed specific combinations of modulators that reversed pathological changes in KA observed in a patient with epilepsy.
The authors suggest that the optimization procedure may have widespread application. "The method we developed to functionally correct a pathological neuron can be used for other brain diseases where alterations of ion channels are involved,"
