Else A Tolner

Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) is a fatal complication of epilepsy in which brainstem spreading depolarization may play a pivotal role, as suggested by animal studies. However, patiotemporal details of spreading depolarization occurring in relation to fatal seizures have not been investigated. In addition, little is known about behavioural and neurophysiological features that may discriminate spontaneous fatal from non-fatal seizures. Transgenic mice carrying the missense ...

Mossy fiber sprouting (MFS) in the hippocampal dentate gyrus is thought to play a critical role in the hyperexcitability of the hippocampus in temporal lobe epilepsy patients. The composition of molecular signals that is needed to direct this sprouting response has not yet been elucidated to a great extent. In the present study we investigated the expression profile of Sema3A mRNA and the axonal growth-associated protein GAP-43 mRNA during the process of electrically induced ...

We investigated the potential of 4-AP (50-100 microM) to induce seizure-like events (SLEs) in combined entorhinal cortex-hippocampal slices from Sprague Dawley rats which developed spontaneous limbic seizures following kainic acid induced status epilepticus. Slices from control rats (n=8) displayed SLEs in the entorhinal and perirhinal cortex upon application of 50 or 100 microM 4-AP. By contrast, 4-AP failed to induce SLEs in slices from chronic epileptic rats (n=13) except for one ...

Immunocytochemical markers of specific rat hippocampal interneuron subpopulations, including the calcium binding proteins parvalbumin (PV), and calretinin (CR) were examined in relation to the evolution of spontaneous seizures after electrically induced status epilepticus (SE). PV/CR/NeuN immunoreactive neurons were counted in the hippocampal formation at different time intervals after SE and related to spontaneous hippocampal discharge activity. Decreased PV immunoreactivity was ...

It is not fully understood how seizures terminate and why some seizures are followed by a period of complete brain activity suppression, postictal generalized EEG suppression. This is clinically relevant as there is a potential association between postictal generalized EEG suppression, cardiorespiratory arrest and sudden death following a seizure. We combined human encephalographic seizure data with data of a computational model of seizures to elucidate the neuronal network dynamics ...

OBJECTIVE: The mechanisms whereby birth asphyxia leads to generation of seizures remain unidentified. To study the possible role of brain pH changes, we used a rodent model that mimics the alterations in systemic CO(2) and O(2) levels during and after intrapartum birth asphyxia.

METHODS: Neonatal rat pups were exposed for 1 hour to hypercapnia (20% CO(2) in the inhaled gas), hypoxia (9% O(2)), or both (asphyxic conditions). CO(2) levels of 10% and 5% were used for graded restoration of ...

MALDI mass spectrometry can simultaneously measure hundreds of biomolecules directly from tissue. Using essentially the same technique but different sample preparation strategies, metabolites, lipids, peptides and proteins can be analyzed. Spatially correlated analysis, imaging MS, enables the distributions of these biomolecular ions to be simultaneously measured in tissues. A key advantage of imaging MS is that it can annotate tissues based on their MS profiles and thereby distinguish ...

Patterned neuronal activity such as spindle bursts in the neonatal cortex is likely to promote the maturation of cortical synapses and neuronal circuits. Previous work on cats has shown that removal of subplate neurons, a transient neuronal population in the immature cortex, prevents the functional maturation of thalamocortical and intracortical connectivity. Here we studied the effect of subplate removal in the neonatal rat primary somatosensory cortex (S1). Using intracortical EEG we ...

Seizure-related apnea is common and can be lethal. Its mechanisms however remain unclear and preventive strategies are lacking. We postulate that brainstem spreading depolarization (SD), previously associated with lethal seizures in animal models, initiates apnea upon invasion of brainstem respiratory centers. To study this, we assessed effects of brainstem seizures on brainstem function and respiration in male and female mice carrying a homozygous S218L missense mutation that leads to ...

Cortical spreading depression, which plays an important role in multiple neurological disorders, has been studied primarily with experimental models that use highly invasive methods. We developed a relatively non-invasive optogenetic model to induce cortical spreading depression by transcranial stimulation of channelrhodopsin-2 ion channels expressed in cortical layer 5 neurons. Light-evoked cortical spreading depression in anesthetized and freely behaving mice was studied with ...

In order to reveal axonal rewiring in the hippocampal and parahippocampal regions after status epilepticus, we investigated the temporal evolution of growth-associated protein-43 (GAP-43) mRNA and protein expression in two rat models of mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE). Status epilepticus (SE) was induced by electrical stimulation of the angular bundle or by intraperitoneal kainic acid (KA) injections. Despite increased GAP-43 mRNA expression in dentate granule cells at 24 h after ...

The characteristic cell loss in layer III of the medial entorhinal area (MEA-III) in human mesial temporal lobe epilepsy is reproduced in the rat kainate model of the disease. To understand how this cell loss affects the functional properties of the MEA, we investigated whether projections from the presubiculum (prS), providing a main input to the MEA-III, are altered in this epileptic rat model. Injections of an anterograde tracer in the prS revealed bilateral projection fibers mainly ...

PURPOSE: We investigated whether the functional network properties of the medial entorhinal area (MEA) of the entorhinal cortex were altered in a rat model of chronic epilepsy that is characterized by extensive cell loss in MEA layer III.

METHODS: Responses were evoked in the entorhinal cortex by electrical stimulation of the subiculum in anesthetized chronic epileptic rats, 2-4 months after status epilepticus, induced by systemic kainate (KA) injections. Laminar field potentials were ...

Mesial temporal lobe epilepsy patients often display shrinkage of the entorhinal cortex, which has been attributed to neuronal loss in medial entorhinal cortex layer III (MEC-III). MEC-III neuronal loss is reproduced in chronic epileptic rats after kainate-induced (KA) status epilepticus. Here we examined, in vitro, functional changes in superficial entorhinal cortex layers. Alterations in superficial layer circuitry were suggested by showing that presubiculum, parasubiculum and deep MEC ...

Migraine is a common brain disorder characterized by recurrent attacks of severe headaches and other neurological symptoms. In one-third of patients headaches are accompanied by auras, which consist of transient visual and sensory disturbances, believed to be caused by cortical spreading depression (CSD). CSD is characterized by a wave of neuronal and glial depolarization with concomitant changes in metabolite concentrations in the brain and cerebrospinal fluid. It remains unknown ...