Copyright 2002 U.P.I.
United Press International
August 5, 2002, Monday

Johns Hopkins University researchers have created a new rat model of epilepsy accidentally by attempting to block a chemical messenger in the brain associated with Lou Gehrig's disease. Epilepsy long has been tied to reduced levels of a brain chemical called GABA, which dampens nerve cells' likelihood of firing. But researchers were studying a messenger called glutamate, which never had been linked to epilepsy.

"We wanted to see how reducing transport of this messenger affected other brain chemicals and the brain itself, but we hadn't expected it to result in epilepsy," researchers said. "Now we need to track it down in people to see if the same mechanism is involved in the human condition."

Although glutamate transport problems may not contribute to human epilepsy, the finding may lead to new ways to treat it, the researchers said. For example, getting more glutamate into GABA-producing neurons may help calm the excessive electrical firing of brain cells associated with the disease.