2024 Volume 42 Issue 1 Pages 11-17
The role of glial cells in the epileptic brain has attracted considerable attention. This is partly because each type of glial cell has unique functions and exhibits unusual features in epileptic pathology. Now that the information held by glial cells can be decoded in different ways, glial cells have become important players in understanding the relationship between epileptic pathology and neural networks. In this workshop, we presented our studies on the mechanisms by which microglia and astrocytes modulate neural networks in epileptic pathology using a kainic acid-induced mouse model of epilepsy.
In particular, we presented the mechanism by which microglia are involved in auditory dysfunction following epileptic seizures. Although auditory dysfunction and increased neuronal activity in the auditory pathway have been reported after epileptic seizures, the cellular mechanisms involved have remained unclear. First, we found that neuronal activity in the auditory pathway, including the primary auditory cortex and medial geniculate body, is increased after epileptic seizures, impairing the ability to discriminate sounds. Second, we found that microglia detach inhibitory synapses projecting to thalamic relay neurons, leading to increased activity in the auditory pathway over an eight-week period after epileptic seizures. Finally, we found that local removal of microglia from the medial geniculate body suppressed relay neuron activity and improved sound discrimination. These results suggest that microglia in the thalamus are involved in auditory dysfunction after epileptic seizures.
In this review, we summarize our recent findings on epilepsy and auditory dysfunction presented at the workshop, as well as the role of synaptic E/I balance alterations and microglia in the epileptic brain.
