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Article: Scientists at Fukuoka University target frontal lobe epilepsy.
- Article from:
- Biotech Week
- Article date:
- January 28, 2009
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According to a study from Fukuoka, Japan, "Mutations of genes encoding alpha 4, beta 2, or alpha 2 subunits (CHRNA4, CHRNB2, or CHRNA2, respectively) of nAChR [neuronal nicotinic ACh (acetyl-choline) receptor] cause nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy (NFLE) in human. NFLE-related seizures are seen exclusively during sleep and are characterized by three distinct seizure phenotypes: ''paroxysmal arousals,'' ''paroxysmal dystonia,'' and '' episodic wandering.'' We generated transgenic rat strains that harbor a missense mutation S284L, which had been identified in CHRNA4 in NFLE."
"The transgenic rats were free of biological abnormalities, such as dysmorphology in the ...