A Role For Cytokine Interleukin-6 In Post-Traumatic Epileptogenesis

Traumatic head injuries are a leading cause of acquired temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). More work is needed to understand how these injuries promote seizures. Head injures result in massive inflammatory responses. This study’s aim is to better understand how the body’s natural inflammatory response to brain injury may cause seizures. The work here focuses on whether one inflammatory protein, called Interleukin-6, signals brain cell networks to become hyperactive after brain injury in a manner that could cause seizures. Experiments here study how Interleukin-6 affects both excitatory and inhibitory brain networks.