The role of the entorhinal cortex in epileptiform activities of the hippocampus.

BACKGROUND: Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the commonest type of epilepsy in adults, and the hippocampus is indicated to have a close relationship with TLE. Recent researches also indicate that the entorhinal cortex (EC) is involved in epilepsy. To explore the essential role that the EC may play in epilepsy, a computational model of the hippocampal CA3 region was built, which consisted of pyramidal cells and two types of interneurons. By changing the input signals from the EC, the effects of EC on epileptiform activities of the hippocampus were investigated. Additionally, recent studies have found that the antiepileptic drug valproate (VPA) can block ictal discharges but cannot block interictal discharges in vitro, and the mechanism under this phenomenon is still confusing. In our model, the effects of VPA on epileptiform activities were simulated and some mechanisms were explored. RESULTS: Interictal discharges were induced in the model without the input signals from the EC, whereas the model with the EC input produced ictal discharges when the EC input contained ictal discharges. The GABA-ergic connection strength was enhanced and the NMDA-ergic connection strength was reduced to simulate the effects of VPA, and the simulation results showed that the disappearance of ictal discharges in the model mainly due to the disappearance of ictal discharges in the input signals from the EC. CONCLUSIONS: Simulation results showed that ictal discharges in the EC were necessary for the hippocampus to generate ictal discharges, and VPA might block the ictal discharges in the EC, which led to the disappearance of ictal discharges in the hippocampus.

Effect of the entorhinal cortex on ictal discharges in low-Mg²âº-induced epileptic hippocampal slice models.

The hippocampus plays an important role in the genesis of mesial temporal lobe epilepsy, and the entorhinal cortex (EC) may affect the hippocampal network activity because of the heavy interconnection between them. However, the mechanism by which the EC affects the discharge patterns and the transmission mode of epileptiform discharges within the hippocampus needs further study. Here, multielectrode recording techniques were used to study the spatiotemporal characteristics of epileptiform discharges in adult mouse hippocampal slices and combined EC-hippocampal slices and determine whether and how the EC affects the hippocampal neuron discharge patterns. The results showed that low-Mg²âº artificial cerebrospinal fluid induced interictal discharges in hippocampal slices, whereas, in combined EC-hippocampal slices the discharge pattern was alternated between interictal and ictal discharges, and ictal discharges initiated in the EC and propagated to the hippocampus. The pharmacological effect of the antiepileptic drug valproate (VPA) was tested. VPA reversibly suppressed the frequency of interictal discharges but did not change the initiation site and propagation speed, and it completely blocked ictal discharges. Our results suggested that EC was necessary for the hippocampal ictal discharges, and ictal discharges were more sensitive than interictal discharges in response to VPA.