Impact of early-life seizures ‘can be mitigated through treatment’

Children who suffer early-life seizures due to conditions such as epilepsy could be protected from neurological damage via a new treatment method.

This is according to a new study from the Children's Hospital Boston, which has conducted a study on rats to see how drugs could be used to counter the effects of seizures, as well as the impact of these events on brain development.

It was found that seizures create an excessively excitatory brain state and strengthens synaptic connections in the brain too soon and too forcefully, causing them to lose their flexibility and responsiveness to change, which in turn impairs brain function.

However, by administering a drug that blocks AMPA receptors within 48 hours of the seizure, these problems were reversed, with the effects lasting into adulthood.

Dr Frances Jensen of the department of neurology and division of neuroscience at the hospital said: "Epilepsy has many mechanisms and potential therapeutic targets, but this is one that may be important in undoing the cognitive effects that epilepsy may have."

According to data from the Epilepsy Society, the condition currently affects more than half a million UK residents, equivalent to around one in 100 people.