BABOON MODEL FOR GENETICS OF HUMAN GENERALIZED EPILEPSY

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The red baboon (Papio hamadryas papio) was first explored more than thirty years ago as a nonhuman primate model of primary generalized epilepsy in humans, and remains one of the best characterized electroclinical animal models for juvenile myoclonic epilepsy. Epilepsy is easily studied in the baboon because these animals are highly susceptible to photic stimulation to provoke neuronal discharges and seizures that are sensitive markers of their epileptic syndrome. The goal of this project is to develop additional species of baboon (P.h. anubis [olive baboon], P.h. cynocephalus [yellow baboon], and their hybrids) as a nonhuman primate model for the genetics of primary generalized epilepsy in humans. Using the large, genotyped baboon pedigree at Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research (SFBR) San Antonio, TX, we will seek genes that significantly affect variation in the clinical and electroencephalographic features of epilepsy in baboons and are therefore likely to be relevant in human epilepsy. Identification of genes involved in the epilepsy syndrome will implicate specific physiological and biochemical pathways that can be targeted for intervention, and potentially contribute to improvements in existing treatments for epilepsy and the development of novel therapies.