Progress of Autophagy in Epilepsy Research

Abstract

Epilepsy is a clinical syndrome caused by highly synchronized abnormal discharges of neurons in the brain. It is a common disease of the nervous system. The pathogenesis of epilepsy has not been fully understood yet. The main pathological changes after seizures are programmed neuronal death and glial proliferation. Autophagy is a catabolic process. Moderate autophagy is critical to maintain the homeostasis and cell health, while abnormal autophagy can lead to disease. A number of studies have proved that abnormal autophagy mechanism can lead to epilepsy, and there are also literatures that autophagy induced by endoplasmic reticulum stress can reduce the neuronal damage triggered by epilepsy, thus playing a protective role in neurons. This article reviews the relationship between autophagy and epilepsy in order to provide basis for further study of autophagy pathway and pathophysiology of epilepsy.