Febrile seizures (seizures associated with a fever) are common in small children and are harmless for the most part. But seizures that last longer than 30 minutes (known as febrile status epilepticus or FSE) can be associated with epilepsy later in life. But, not all individuals that experience FSE go on to develop epilepsy as adults. Why is that the case?
Rodents like rats and mice are routinely used in the lab to study epilepsy to eventually come up with better therapies. A recent study came up a technique where only a subset of rat pups developed epilepsy after experimental FSE to mimic what happens in people. Previous research has linked inflammation to fever and to epilepsy. The scientists now wanted to know whether there was a more direct relationship between fever and inflammation that could cause epilepsy.
Unlike humans, experimental rats are highly identical genetically, so the fact that even then we would see these differences in MRI and in inflammation is remarkable. More research is needed in this field, but this study suggests that inflammation is a possible mechanism behind epileptogenesis and could also be a potential biomarker.