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Research Update

Studies in the past have suggested that estrogen plays a role in triggering seizures in women who are already likely to experience them. However, researchers have not known why estrogen has this effect on some women with epilepsy.

New research by scientists at Northwestern University suggests how estrogen affects the structure of brain cells, and the way these cells communicate with one another.

The study, published in the March 13 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, tested estrogen's effects on hippocampal synapses in animals. Synapses are the junctions between brain cells where electrical signals are passed from one cell to another. The hippocampus, an area of the brain key to the development of temporal lobe epilepsy, is sensitive to fluctuating levels of estrogen.

Catherine Woolley, senior author of the study, and her team studied the neurons (brain cells) of animals and compared them to the cells of animals treated with estrogen. When single estrogen-treated cells were scanned with an electron microscope, the researchers found that synapses had been formed with more than one neighboring cell.

This means that when a cell misfires, two neighboring cells in the brain could receive the electrical signal at the same time -- instead of just one neighboring cell. These multiple connections increase the possibility of brain cells misfiring at the same time and, thus, increase the possibility of seizures.

The researchers at Northwestern University stress that estrogen does not cause seizures. However, if a woman is already likely to have seizures, estrogen may play a role in increasing them.

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