This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing theresources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject andinvestigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source,and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed isfor the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator.Many types of brain lesions can trigger epilepsy. In most patients, seizure activity can be controlled with medications. In approximately twenty percent of the cases, patients will suffer from recurrent seizures which are refractory to medications, and surgical treatments may be the only effective course for seizure management. Neither the basis for lesional epileptic activity nor the optimal conditions for surgical treatment of epileptogenic lesions have been completely defined. We will use optical coherence tomography, a newly developed imaging technique, to localize epileptogenic brain lesions produced experimentally in the cerebral cortex of rats. These lesions are anatomically and physiologically similar to one of the developmental brain abnormalities (microgyri) observed in humans. We will use short-duration, high peak power pulsed laser radiation to selectively destroy the superficial layers of the brain cortex within and surrounding the epileptogenic lesion, then assess the effect of laser tissue ablation on electrophysiological activity surrounding the lesion. The specific objectives of the proposed research are: (1) To develop new techniques for non-thermal photoablation of brain tissue that can be adapted for use in human surgical procedures to treat medically intractable epileptogenic brain lesions; (2) To determine whether abnormal electrical activity surrounding the epileptogenic brain lesion can be eliminated by photoablative destruction of the lesion; (3) To study the interactions between the superficial and deep layers of the brain cortex which contribute to pathological electrophysiological activity of developmental brain lesions, and (4) To determine whether OCT can be used to detect the lesion in animal model.
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