Referenced in: none

Automatically associated channels: Kir4.1 , Kv1.4 , Kv3.1 , Kv4.2

Title: Expression of astrocyte-related receptors in cortical dysplasia with intractable epilepsy.

Authors: Sayuri Sukigara, Hongmei Dai, Shin Nabatame, Taisuke Otsuki, Sae Hanai, Ryoko Honda, Takashi Saito, Eiji Nakagawa, Takanobu Kaido, Noriko Sato, Yuu Kaneko, Akio Takahashi, Kenji Sugai, Yuko Saito, Masayuki Sasaki, Yu-ichi Goto, Schuichi Koizumi, Masayuki Itoh

Journal, date & volume: J. Neuropathol. Exp. Neurol., 2014 Aug , 73, 798-806

PubMed link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25003238

Abstract
Epilepsy is one of the major neurologic diseases, and astrocytes play important roles in epileptogenesis. To investigate possible roles of astrocyte-related receptors in patients with intractable epilepsy associated with focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) and other conditions, we examined resected epileptic foci from 31 patients, including 23 with FCD type I, IIa, or IIb, 5 with tuberous sclerosis complex, and 3 with low-grade astrocytoma. Control samples were from 21 autopsied brains of patients without epilepsy or neurologic deficits and 5 patients with pathologic gliosis without epilepsy. Immunohistochemical and immunoblot analyses with antibodies against purinergic receptor subtypes P2RY1, P2RY2, P2RY4, potassium channels Kv4.2 and Kir4.1, and metabotropic receptor subtypes mGluR1 and mGluR5 were performed. Anti-glial fibrillary acidic protein, anti-NeuN, and anti-CD68 immunostaining was used to identify astrocytes, neurons, and microglia, respectively. Most glial fibrillary acidic protein-immunopositive astrocyte cells in the brain samples from patients with epilepsy were P2RY1-, P2RY2-, P2RY4-, Kv4.2-, Kir4.1-, mGluR1-, and mGluR5-positive, whereas samples from controls and pathologic gliosis showed lower expression levels of these astrocyte-related receptors. Our findings suggest that, although these receptors are necessary for astrocyte transmission, formation of the neuron-glia network, and other physiologic functions, overexpression in the brains of patients with intractable epilepsy may be associated with activation of intracellular and glio-neuronal signaling pathways that contribute to epileptogenesis.