Background and purpose: To date, no study has evaluated the association between serotonin receptor density and clinical variables in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy caused by hippocampal sclerosis (TLE-HS) using hippocampal tissue. We evaluated 5-hydroxytryptamine1A receptor (5-HT1AR) density in hippocampal tissue from patients with TLE-HS.
Methods: We analyzed the hippocampal tissue of 34 patients with pharmacoresistant unilateral TLE-HS. 5-HT1AR density was measured using semiquantitative western blotting.
Results: There was an association between higher density of 5-HT1AR and longer duration of epilepsy (Spearman correlation: P = 0.040; generalized linear model: P = 0.026).
Conclusions: This study demonstrated that hippocampal 5-HT1AR density is associated with epilepsy duration in patients with TLE-HS. The authors postulate that this may represent a potential regulatory enhancement of endogenous serotonergic neurotransmission in response to prolonged and enduring epileptiform activity in the hippocampal tissue of patients with pharmacoresistant TLE-HS.
Keywords: epilepsy surgery; hippocampal sclerosis; hippocampus; refractory; serotonin; western blotting.
© 2017 EAN.