Tag: Epilepsy

New Animal Model for Epilepsy

In September biomedical firm Bionomics announced the creation of a new animal model for epilepsy. Researchers at Bionomics have developed a mouse that contains a genetic mutation which causes the animal to experience seizures analogous to epileptic seizures in human beings.

In fact, this is a ‘knock-in’ mouse — the researchers added a mutation to the mice that is believed to be the cause of inherited epilepsy in human beings.

Bionomics Managing Director Deborah Rathjen said in a press release,

The new mouse model contains a genetic mutation representative of human epilepsy and we will now be able to assess more closely the neurological and physiological mechanisms causing epilepsy. We can move to identify fourth generation anti-epileptic drugs that will be more effective and with fewer side effects.

As many as 30 percent of people diagnose with epilepsy don’t respond to existing drugs.

Source:

Bionomics breakthrough world’s first animal model of inherited human epilepsy. Bionomics, Press Release, September 8, 2002.

Bionomics Touts New Mouse Model, Posts Loss. Melissa Trudinger, Australian Biotechnology News, September 9, 2002.

Pig cell transplant a possible treatment for severe epilepsy

At the annual meeting of the American Epilepsy Society in San Diego, California, researcher presented
preliminary results of using fetal pig cells to treat severe epilepsy.

Neurologists Steven Schacter and Donald Schomer treated two epileptic patients who were both in their forties. Both patients suffered from severe epileptic seizures that failed to respond to anti-seizure medications.

The neurologists implanted fetal pig cells in the brains of the patients. The purpose of this small study was to explore the feasibility and safety of such a transplantation. Schacter and Schomer reported there were no observed side effects, and both patients saw a reduction in the number of seizures following the transplantation.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Schacter emphasized that although the results are encouraging, much more research remains to be done to establish whether or not such
xenotransplantation will provide a long-term solution.

Source:

Seizure reduction could be credited to pig cell brain implants. The Associated Press, December 14, 1998.