Evaluation of cellular effects of deep brain stimulation of the anterior nucleus of the thalamus in experimental models of temporal lobe epilepsy

Abstract

Epilepsy is considered one of the most common neurological disorders. The most frequent is temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). In clinical practice deep brain stimulation (DBS) has been used as an alternative treatment for the population of patients with epilepsy who are refractory to pharmacologic treatment. Because the anterior thalamic nucleus (NA) occupies a central position in the limbic circuitry, it has been one of the most used targets to seizures control. In previous studies, our group have demonstrated that animals treated with a current of 500 microA reduced the latency to the development of seizures after systemic administration of pilocarpine. Despite the good performance of deep brain stimulation in clinical studies and in experimental models, the cellular actions of DBS remain largely unknown. To investigate the cellular mechanisms underlying DBS in the anterior nucleus of the thalamus in the model of temporal lobe epilepsy pilocarpine-induced we propose a study to elucidate some of the questions about the effect of stimulation at different times after SE induction. (AU)