Switching on Brain Transporters to Switch off Brain Seizures

大脑活动取决于神经元兴奋和抑制之间的良好平衡。当这种平衡失去时，就会导致使人衰弱的癫痫发作，比如癫痫。我们已经开发了一种新的基因操作方法来增强神经元抑制和预防小鼠癫痫发作。我们将研究这种效应背后的生理机制，我们建议我们也可以利用这种基因开关来阻止脑外伤后癫痫的发展。

Brain activity depends upon the fine balance between neuronal excitation and inhibition. When this balance is lost, debilitating seizures can result, such as occurs in epilepsy. We have developed a new gene manipulation approach to enhance neuronal inhibition and prevent seizures in mice. We will examine the physiological mechanisms underlying this effect, and we propose that we can also use this genetic switch to stop the progression into epilepsy that occurs following a brain trauma.