Keck researcher leads new epilepsy study


A new study done at the USC Keck School of Medicine published Monday by the University College London found that the volume and thickness differences in the gray matter of multiple brain regions indicates the development of epilepsy, a neurological disorder that affects up to 1.5 percent of the world population.

Christopher Whelan, a researcher at USC Keck School of Medicine, attributed differences in thickness and volume of gray matter in the cortex and subcortical brain to epilepsy. Photo from Max Pixel.

Led by Keck researcher Christopher Whelan and UCL professor Sanjay Sisodiya, the study was conducted at the ENIGMA-Epilepsy consortium, which is headquartered at Keck.

It marked as the largest neuroimaging study of people: Data was pooled from 24 research centers worldwide, and 2,149 people with epileptic tendencies were analyzed together for similarities and divided into four groups for researchers to identify specific differences. This overall group was compared to 1,727 participants without epilepsy.

“Some of the differences we found were so subtle they could only be detected due to the large sample size that provided us with very robust, detailed data,” Whelan told ScienceDaily.

From this sampling, researchers discovered that people with brains of reduced volume and thickness generally experienced a longer duration of epilepsy. They also found reduced gray matter thickness in parts of the cortex and reduced volume in subcortical brain regions.

According to the study, participants with epilepsy had a smaller thickness specifically in the motor cortex, which controls the body’s movement, as well as a lower volume in the right thalamus, which relays sensory and motor signals. These features have been previously associated with fewer forms of epilepsy.

“We found that structural changes are present in multiple brain regions, which informs our understanding of epilepsy as a network disorder,” Whelan said.

Idiopathic generalized epilepsies, which are known for lack of noticeable structural brain abnormalities such that neuroradiologists typically cannot see anything unusual in brain scans, were even found to have some of the same discovered patterns as standard epilepsy.

“We have identified a common neuroanatomical signature of epilepsy, across multiple epilepsy types,” Whelan told ScienceDaily. “We found that structural changes are present in multiple brain regions, which informs our understanding of epilepsy as a network disorder.”

According to the authors, further research will be conducted to follow up on these findings. With more longitudinal and genetic studies, they hope to discover the underlying cause of these structural differences in the brains of epileptic patients.

“By identifying these patterns, we are developing a neuroanatomical map showing which brain measures are key for further studies that could improve our understanding and treatment of the epilepsies,” Sisodiya told  ScienceDaily.