Characterisation of brain inflammation in an epilepsy model by means of longitudinal in vivo PET/MRI imaging.

The neurobiological processes that eventually result in epilepsy are still not completely understood. It is well known that brain injuries such as neurotraumata, febrile seizures, infection and status epilepticus are associated with the acute occurrence of seizures and a higher risk of developing epilepsy after a latent period. Recent studies strongly support the hypothesis that brain inflammation plays an important role in the pathophysiology of seizures and epilepsy. The asset of this comprehensive study is that it will employ the recent progress made in non-invasive small animal imaging to characterize brain inflammation in a chronic epilepsy model. First of all the project aims to characterize this process by traditional postmortem techniques. In the following step in vivo methodologies will be developed with histological validation to assess brain inflammation, brain activity and structural brain abnormalities. In the next step, structural changes in the brain together with inflammation will be longitudinally followed up during the development of epilepsy in living animals by PET/MRI imaging. Finally, the effect of different pharmacological interventions on brain inflammation will be investigated by PET/MRI imaging. Thus, this project will lead to a better understanding and characterization of the role of brain inflammation in epilepsy, which will impact development and evaluation of novel treatment strategies in the field.

Keywords:NEUROLOGY

Disciplines:Neurosciences, Biological and physiological psychology, Cognitive science and intelligent systems, Developmental psychology and ageing