The ATP-Binding Genes MRNA Expression In Brains Of Refractory Epileptic Patients

Objective To explore the molecular mechanism of refractory epilepsy(RE) through the diferential expression of the genes of ATP-binding mRNA in the brain of refractory epileptic patients. .Methods The 32 cases with drug-refractory epilepsy included in this study were randomly selected from a list of 160 patients in our epilepsy brain bank who had rection surgery of temporal lobe tissue for IE. Among them, 17 were male and 15 were female, with the mean age of 27.3土8.7(? x±s)years ranged from 10 to 47 years, and the disease course was 3.5 to 30 years(mean 10.2土6.8(? x±s)years). 16 cases were categorized as partial seizures secondarily generalised tonic,clonic,or tonic-clonic seizures, 7 cases as complex partial seizures and the remaining 9 cases as many kinds of seizures types. The type of seizure in the patients was determined in accordance with the International Classification of Epileptic Seizures specified by the International League Against Epilepsy(ILAE) in 1981. For comparison ,we obtained 19 histologically normal temporal neocortex samples from individuals treated for increased intracranial pressure due to head trauma. The mean age was 31.6土1 1.7(? x±s)years ranged from 17 to 66 years.Operative specimens from the patients were stored in liquid nitrogen (-196℃) immediately, which was used for gene chip scanning. Other parts were fixed in 4% paraform solution for 48 hours, then they were conventionally embedded with paraffin. The microarray scanning and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(RT—PCR)were used to evaluate the genes of ATP-binding mRNA expression in the brain of 40 refractory epileptic patients and 8 normal control human.Results As compared with the 8 cases of normal control group, the candidate genes of ATP-binding mRNA was higher expressed in the brains of patients with RE,and the results of RT—PCR were coincided well with the cDNA chip resuits.Conclusion The significantly up-regulated of ATP-binding genes mRNA in neurons suggests energy metabohsm exist in brains of refractory epileptic patients and the apoptosis of neuron and Synaptic plasticity caused by energy metabohsm may play an important role in the formation and development of RE.