We treated 19 patients with Rasmussen's syndrome (chronic encephalitis and epilepsy)--a rare progressive disorder of unknown etiology causing focal epilepsy, hemiparesis, and intellectual deterioration--with intravenous immunoglobulins, high-dose steroids, or both, to control seizures and improve the end point of the disease. Ten of 17 patients receiving steroids, and eight of nine patients receiving immunoglobulins, had some reduction of seizure frequency in the short term. Improvement in hemiparesis was slight. The effect of these drugs in ameliorating the end point of the disease in the long term remains unknown, and further multicenter studies with standardized protocols are warranted.

Background: Many studies of epilepsy in veterinary medicine use subjective data (eg, caregiver-derived histories) to determine seizure frequency. Conversely, in people, objective data from electroencephalography (EEG) are mainly used to diagnose epilepsy, measure seizure frequency and evaluate efficacy of antiseizure drugs. These EEG data minimize the possibility of the underreporting of seizures, a known phenomenon in human epileptology.Objective: To evaluate the correlation between reported seizure frequency and EEG frequency of ictal paroxysmal discharges (PDs) and to determine whether seizure underreporting phenomenon exists in veterinary epileptology.Animals: Thirty-three ambulatory video-EEG recordings in dogs showing ≥1 ictal PD, excluding dogs with status epilepticus.Methods: Retrospective observational study. Ictal PDs were counted manually over the entire recording to obtain the frequency of EEG seizures. Caregiver-reported seizure frequency from the medical record was categorized into weekly, daily, hourly, and per minute seizure groupings. The Spearman rank test was used for correlation analysis.Results: The coefficient value (r s ) comparing reported seizure to EEG-confirmed ictal PD frequencies was 0.39 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.048-0.64, P = .03). Other r s values comparing history against various seizure types were: 0.36 for motor seizures and 0.37 for nonmotor (absence) seizures.Conclusions and Clinical Importance: A weak correlation was found between the frequency of reported seizures from caregivers (subjective data) and ictal PDs on EEG (objective data). Subjective data may not be reliable enough to determine true seizure frequency given the discrepancy with EEG-confirmed seizure frequency. Confirmation of the seizure underreporting phenomenon in dogs by prospective study should be carried out.

SummaryThe use of immature rodents to study physiologic aspects of cortical development requires high‐quality recordings electroencephalography (EEG) with simultaneous video recording (vEEG) of behavior. Normative developmental vEEG data in control animals are fundamental for the study of abnormal background activity in animal models of seizures or other neurologic disorders. Electrical recordings from immature, freely behaving rodents can be particularly difficult because of the small size of immature rodents, their thin and soft skull, interference with the recording apparatus by the dam, and other technical challenges. In this report of the TASK1 Working Group 2 (WG2) of the International League Against Epilepsy/American Epilepsy Society (ILAE/AES) Joint Translational Task Force, we provide suggestions that aim to optimize future vEEG recordings from immature rodents, as well as their interpretation. We focus on recordings from immature rodents younger than 30 days old used as experimental controls, because the quality and correct interpretation of such recordings is important when interpreting the vEEG results of animals serving as models of neurologic disorders. We discuss the technical aspects of such recordings and compare tethered versus wireless approaches. We also summarize the appearance of common artifacts and various patterns of electrical activity seen in young rodents used as controls as a function of behavioral state, age, and (where known) sex and strain. The information herein will hopefully help improve the methodology of vEEG recordings from immature rodents and may lead to results and interpretations that are more consistent across studies from different laboratories.

PURPOSE: We examined the effect of safranal, a constituent of Crocus sativus, in acute experimental animal models of generalized absence seizures. METHODS: We further characterized its effects on the GABAergic system through the regional modification of [3H] flunitrazepam, a benzodiazepine agonist binding site and [3H] CGP54626A, a GABAB receptor antagonist binding site in mouse brain. RESULTS: The systemic administration of safranal resulted in a significant and dose-dependent attenuation in experimental absence seizures elicited by either ?-butyrolactone (GBL), baclofen (BAC) or low doses of GABAA receptor antagonists; pentylenetetrazole (PTZ), picrotoxin (PTX) and bicuculline (BMC). After a single intraperitoneal administration of safranal (291 mg/kg), no changes in baseline electrocorticographic (ECoG) recording were observed, however, a significant decrease in [3H] flunitrazepam binding was seen in the cortex (33.16%, p<0.001), hippocampus (27.36%, p<0.01) and thalamus (29.91%, p<0.01) of mouse brain, while the [3H] CGP54626A binding did not show any modification in the same brain regions. CONCLUSION: These data indicate that there is an antiabsence seizure property in safranal and its effect may be due to modifications on the benzodiazepine binding sites of the GABAA receptor complex.