Schmitt
Fakultäten » Medizinische Fakultät » Kinderspital Zürich: Medizinische Klinik » Neuropädiatrie, Abteilung » Prof. Dr. Eugen Boltshauser (emeritiert) » Schmitt
Completed research project
| Title / Titel | Sleep and epilepsy: do continuous spike-and-slow waves in patients with CSWS or Landau-Kleffner Syndrome increase “downscaling” effect of slow wave sleep and do these effects explain the cognitive decline? | ||||||||
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| Abstract (PDF, 14 KB) | |||||||||
| Summary / Zusammenfassung | Electrical status epilepticus in sleep (ESES) is defined as continuous spike-wave activity during slow wave sleep. It occurs in two paediatric syndromes „continuous spike and waves during slow wave sleep” (CSWS) and Landau-Kleffner-Syndrome (LKS). In both syndromes ESES takes place during several years and coincides with a decline in cognition (CSWS) or receptive language (LKS), which is partly reversible when ESES disappears during brain maturation. The reason for the decline is still unknown; increase of seizure frequency during ESES does not explain this cognitive and language decline. Treatment with steroids sometimes improves ESES and the cognitive or language function. The role of sleep in learning and memory consolidation was investigated in several studies. Recently Tononi et al (2003) hypothesised that the steepness of slow waves in sleep reflects the strength of synaptic connection. During the night, this steepness decreases, reflecting the weakening or disruption of unnecessary synaptic connections (“downscaling”). Downscaling reduces the energy demand of the brain and increases the efficiency of the remaining synaptic connections. The aim of our study is to investigate the effects of extensive Non-REM spike waves on synaptic connections. We investigate the change of steepness of slow waves during the night and how drugs i.e. steroids affect this process. We hypothesise that extensive high amplitude spike waves in Non-REM sleep amplify the downscaling process beyond the physiological range which leads to additional synaptic disruption resulting in a loss of learned skills. The localisation of the spike waves might determine the resulting deficit. For the study, we retrospectively analyse the digital over-night EEG data of patients with CSWS and LKS treated in the University Children’s Hospitals in Zurich and Heidelberg. |
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| Publications / Publikationen | Impaired Slow Wave Sleep Downscaling in Encephalopathy with Status Epilepticus during Sleep (ESES) Bigna K. Bölsterli, Bernhard Schmitt, Thomas Bast, Hanne Critelli, Jakob Heinzle, Oskar G. Jenni, Reto Huber Clinical Neurophysiology 122 (2011) 1779–1787 |
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| Keywords / Suchbegriffe | sleep, ESES, CSWS, Landau-Kleffner Syndrome | ||||||||
| Project leadership and contacts / Projektleitung und Kontakte |
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| Funding source(s) / Unterstützt durch |
SNF (Personen- und Projektförderung), Foundation |
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| In collaboration with / In Zusammenarbeit mit |
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| Duration of Project / Projektdauer | Jun 2008 to Dec 2011 |