Comment on "On the Origin of Interictal Activity in Human Temporal Lobe Epilepsy in Vitro" by Christian Wozny, Anatol Kivi, Thomas-Nicolas Lehmann, Christoph Dehnicke, Uwe Heinemann, and Joachim Behr Science Volume 301(5632):463-463 July 25, 2003 Published by AAAS

Fig. 1. Relation of hippocampal sclerosis, interictal activity, and membrane properties in human TLE. (A) Membrane properties and discharge patterns of a human subicular bursting cell (left trace) and regular firing cell (right trace) upon negative and positive current steps [range: ± 0.9 nA; duration:300 ms; representative traces recorded in AHS tissue (5, 7)]. Relation of hippocampal sclerosis, interictal activity, and membrane properties in human TLE. (A) Membrane properties and discharge patterns of a human subicular bursting cell (left trace) and regular firing cell (right trace) upon negative and positive current steps [range: ± 0.9 nA; duration:300 ms; representative traces recorded in AHS tissue (5, 7)]. In AHS and non-AHS tissue, the majority of subicular cells were regular firing cells (75% and 79%, respectively). Arrow indicates spontaneous activity recorded in AHS tissue. (B) 56% (AHS tissue) and 28% (non-AHS tissue) of subicular principle cells displayed spontaneous, rhythmic activity (in vitro), which was always correlated with interictal spike and wave events recorded with sphenoidal electrodes (in vivo) in the same patient. (C) The synchronized spontaneous activity consisted of excitatory and inhibitory postsynaptic potentials that were suppressed by the AMPA/kainate receptor-antagonist NBQX (but not by the NMDA receptor-antagonist APV) (a) and the GABAA receptor-antagonist bicuculline (b). (D) fAHP and sAHP following a train of depolarization-induced action potentials (1 nA, 1 s) were significantly decreased in cells showing spontaneous rhythmic activity compared to cells without activity (9). Arrow indicates spontaneous activity in the course of the recording. Christian Wozny et al. Science 2003;301:463 Published by AAAS