The article concerns the problem of the molecular basis of epilepsy. The studies were carried out on the serum of patients with a severe course of epilepsy and on the brain structures (hippocampus, amygdala, and temporal cortex) removed from the epileptic patients during planned neurosurgery. Epilepsy in the selected patients was electrophysiologically verified using electroencephalographic recordings demonstrating characteristic fusiform activity. Through an indirect ELISA test, the levels of natural autoantibodies to collapsin response-mediated protein 2 (CRMP2) in the serum were evaluated. These levels were significantly downregulated in the epilepsy patients relative to healthy controls. We extracted proteins from the hippocampus, amygdala, and temporal cortex, removed from the patients during neurosurgery, and fractionated them using the isoelectric focusing (IEF) technique with the application of a wide pH range of ampholines. The interaction of the IEF protein fractions with the sera of other epileptic patients, used as primary antibodies, was analyzed by an indirect ELISA test. The upregulation of protein fractions with pI values beyond 8.0 was revealed. The authors propose that the upregulated protein fractions refer to epileptogenic proteins whose synthesis is overexpressed against the background of decreased levels of CRMP2 in the epileptic patients’ brain structures.
Ibadova et al. (Wed,) studied this question.