Amnesia and the medial temporal lobes: an investigation in autoimmune limbic encephalitis

这个项目的总体目标是了解大脑内侧颞叶区域的损伤是如何导致记忆障碍的。记忆障碍在神经系统疾病中很常见。它对人们的生活可能是毁灭性的，使他们无法工作，许多日常活动依赖照顾者。人们很早就知道，大脑的一个特定部分--内侧颞叶--对记忆至关重要。在阿尔茨海默病、癫痫和脑炎(脑部炎症)等情况下，这一区域会受到损害，并可能导致严重的记忆力丧失。为了更好地诊断和治疗这些疾病，我们需要了解内侧颞叶是如何参与记忆的。这个研究项目专注于一种名为边缘脑炎的神经疾病，在这种情况下，内侧颞叶会变得发炎。大约十年前，牛津大学的科学家发现了边缘脑炎的一种常见原因--‘电压门控钾通道复合体’(VGKC)抗体。这种疾病被称为VGKC-LE，通常发生在中年，越来越多地被认为是导致记忆障碍和晚年癫痫发作的原因。治疗是可用的，但许多患者有严重的持续性记忆困难，扰乱了他们的生活。这项研究将发现VGKC-LE患者记忆丧失的原因是什么，以及可以采取什么措施来预防它们。这将有助于医生更早地认识到这种情况，并开出最好的药物。它还将教会我们更多关于内侧颞叶在记忆中的确切作用。我们从这个项目中学到的东西将直接与其他常见疾病相关，如痴呆症和癫痫。这将增加我们对内侧颞叶损伤导致记忆问题的理解，并使我们能够更早地发现这些问题--这是找到有效治疗方法的关键一步。这项研究将由牛津大学和牛津大学医院NHS信托基金的神经学家克里斯托弗·巴特勒博士进行。巴特勒博士对记忆障碍很感兴趣，他经营着一家多学科的记忆诊所，在那里可以看到许多VGKC-LE患者。该项目将涉及世界领先的脑扫描中心之一-牛津大脑功能磁共振成像中心(FMRIB)。牛津地区有一大群VGKC-LE患者。我们将使用详细的记忆测试和最先进的脑扫描来发现VGKC-LE记忆障碍的原因，并改进这种往往具有破坏性的疾病的治疗。作为该项目的一部分，一种特殊的记忆测试将被用来尝试和改进阿尔茨海默病的早期检测。

The overall aim of this project is to understand how damage to a region of the brain called the medial temporal lobe causes memory impairment. Memory impairment is common in neurological diseases. It can be devastating to peoples' lives, leaving them unable to work and dependent on carers for many daily activities. It has been known for a long time that one particular part of the brain - the medial temporal lobe - is critical for memory. Damage to this region occurs in conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy and encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) and may lead to severe memory loss. In order to diagnose and treat these conditions better, we need to understand how the medial temporal lobe is involved in memory.This research project focusses on a neurological condition called limbic encephalitis, in which the medial temporal lobe becomes inflamed. Almost ten years ago, scientists in Oxford identified a common cause of limbic encephalitis - antibodies to the 'voltage-gated potassium channel complex' (or VGKC). This disease, known as VGKC-LE, typically occurs in middle age and is increasingly recognised as a cause of memory impairment and seizures in later life. Treatments are available but many patients have severe ongoing memory difficulties that disrupt their lives. The research will discover what are the causes of memory loss in patients with VGKC-LE and what can be done to prevent them. This will help doctors to recognise the condition earlier and prescribe the best medications. It will also teach us much more about the precise role of the medial temporal lobe in memory.What we learn from this project will be directly relevant to other common conditions such as dementia and epilepsy. It will increase our understanding of why damage to the medial temporal lobes causes memory problems and enable us to detect these problems sooner - a vital step towards finding effective treatments.The research will be carried out by Dr Christopher Butler, a neurologist at the University of Oxford and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust. Dr Butler has a specialist interest in memory disorders and runs a multidisciplinary memory clinic where many patients with VGKC-LE are seen. The project will involve one of the world's leading centres for brain scanning - the Oxford Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain (FMRIB). There is a large group of patients with VGKC-LE in the Oxford region. We will use detailed tests of memory and state-of-the-art brain scanning to discover the causes of memory impairment in VGKC-LE and improve the treatment of this often devastating disease. A special test of memory, developed as part of the project, will be used to try and improve the early detection of Alzheimer's disease.