Early life seizures: evidence for chronic deficits linked to autism and intellectual disability across species and models

Paul B Bernard; Tim A Benke

doi:10.1016/j.expneurol.2014.09.018

Early life seizures: evidence for chronic deficits linked to autism and intellectual disability across species and models

Exp Neurol. 2015 Jan:263:72-8. doi: 10.1016/j.expneurol.2014.09.018. Epub 2014 Oct 2.

Authors

Paul B Bernard¹, Tim A Benke²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado, School of Medicine, USA.
² Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado, School of Medicine, USA; Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Colorado, School of Medicine, USA; Department of Neurology, University of Colorado, School of Medicine, USA; Department of Pharmacology, University of Colorado, School of Medicine, USA; Department of Otolaryngology, University of Colorado, School of Medicine, USA. Electronic address: tim.benke@ucdenver.edu.

Abstract

Recent work in Exp Neurol by Lugo et al. (2014b) demonstrated chronic alterations in sociability, learning and memory following multiple early life seizures (ELS) in a mouse model. This work adds to the growing body of evidence supporting the detrimental nature of ELS on the developing brain to contribute to aspects of an autistic phenotype with intellectual disability. Review of the face validity of behavioral testing and the construct validity of the models used informs the predictive ability and thus the utility of these models to translate underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms into future human studies.

Keywords: Animal model; Anxiety; Autism; Communication; Early life seizure; Intellectual disability; Learning; Memory; Social.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Comment

MeSH terms

Animals
Autistic Disorder / etiology*
Cognition Disorders / etiology*
Male
Maze Learning / physiology*
Memory Disorders / etiology*
Seizures / complications*
Social Behavior*

Grants and funding

R01 NS076577/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/United States