Serum biomarkers of cerebral cellular stress after self-limiting tonic clonic seizures: An exploratory study

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Robert Daniel Nass - , University of Bonn Medical Center (Author)
  • Katja Akgün - , Department of Neurology, Center of Clinical Neuroscience (Author)
  • Christian Elger - , University of Bonn Medical Center (Author)
  • Heinz Reichmann - , Department of Neurology, Center of Clinical Neuroscience (Author)
  • Marcus Wagner - , University of Bonn Medical Center (Author)
  • Rainer Surges - , University of Bonn Medical Center (Author)
  • Tjalf Ziemssen - , Department of Neurology, Center of Clinical Neuroscience (Author)

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: It has been debated for decades whether single, self-limited seizures damage cerebral cells. Meanwhile, very sensitive measurements of biomarkers have become available, i.e. tau, neurofilament protein light (NFL), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and ubiquitin carboxyterminate hydrolase L1 (UCHL-1), which we explored in this study.

METHODS: Adult patients of the epilepsy monitoring unit were admitted to the study after written consent. Blood samples were drawn at baseline, immediately after a TCS and after two, six and 24 h. The markers were measured from frozen samples with a single-molecule array (SIMOA).

RESULTS: 20 patients and 20 seizures were included. All markers showed subtle but significant postictal increases and returned to normal within the next few hours (p < 0.05). An increase of at least 100 % from baseline was noted in 30 % of patients for tau, 25 % for UCHL-1 and 15 % for GFAP, while NFL levels never increased above 100 %. Lactate was slightly correlated with the tau increase (r = 0.47, p = 0.037), leukocytes were correlated with postictal changes of GFAP (r = 0.68 p = 0.001).

CONCLUSION: Our data supports the assumption that significant cerebral stress occurs in some but not all self-limited TCS. The postictal inflammatory response in particular seems to play an important role.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-5
Number of pages5
JournalSeizure
Volume85
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2021
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

Scopus 85098162383

Keywords

Keywords

  • Adult, Biomarkers, Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein, Humans, Seizures