Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2005 Jan-Feb;5(1):1-6.
doi: 10.1111/j.1535-7597.2005.05101.x.

Inflammation and epilepsy

Annamaria Vezzani  1
Affiliations

Inflammation and epilepsy

Annamaria Vezzani. Epilepsy Curr. 2005 Jan-Feb.

Abstract

In recent years, increasing evidence has indicated that immune and inflammatory reactions occur in brain in various central nervous system (CNS) diseases. Furthermore, inflammatory processes, such as the production of proinflammatory cytokines and related molecules, have been described in brain after seizures induced in experimental models and in clinical cases of epilepsy. Although little is known about the role of inflammation in epilepsy, it has been hypothesized that activation of the innate immune system and associated inflammatory reactions in brain may mediate some of the molecular and structural changes occurring during and after seizure activity. Whether the innate immune response that takes place in epileptic tissue is beneficial or noxious to the CNS is still an open and intriguing question that should be addressed by further investigations.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. De Simoni MG, Perego C, Ravizza T, Moneta D, Conti M, Marchesi F, De Luigi A, Garattini S, Vezzani A. Inflammatory cytokines and related genes are induced in the rat hippocampus by limbic status epilepticus. Eur J Neurosci. 2000;12:2623–2633. - PubMed
    1. Vezzani A, Conti M, De Luigi A, Ravizza T, Moneta D, Marchesi F, De Simoni MG. Interleukin-1beta immunoreactivity and microglia are enhanced in the rat hippocampus by focal kainate application: functional evidence for enhancement of electrographic seizures. J Neurosci. 1999;19:5054–5065. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Vezzani A, Moneta D, Richichi C, Aliprandi M, Burrows SJ, Ravizza T, Perego C, De Simoni MG. Functional role of inflammatory cytokines and antiinflammatory molecules in seizures and epileptogenesis. Epilepsia. 2002;43:30–35. - PubMed
    1. Vezzani A, Moneta D, Conti M, Richichi C, Ravizza T, De Luigi A, De Simoni MG, Sperk G, Andell-Jonsson S, Lundkvist J, Iverfeldt K, Bartfai T. Powerful anticonvulsant action of IL-1 receptor antagonist on intracerebral injection and astrocytic overexpression in mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2000;97:11534–11539. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Yuhas Y, Weizman A, Ashkenazi S. Bidirectional concentration-dependent effects of tumor necrosis factor alpha in Shigella dysenteriae-related seizures. Infect Immun. 2003;71:2288–2291. - PMC - PubMed