Can memories trigger seizures? Lethbridge neuroscientist explores the connections

A neuroscientist at the University ofLethbridgebelieves memories playa role in epilepsy.

"This is a little bit of a futuristic idea but we have preliminary data suggesting that this could be true. So with this research, we can better understand the mechanisms of seizures and epilepsy," said neuroscientistArturLuczak.

Luczak explains that while some seizures are prompted by flickering lights, odoursand sounds, he thinks others are triggered by specific memories.

"So let's say some people were in the past stressed out by a specific event and now when they subconsciously recall this event it can trigger seizure," said the professor.

He explains one of the biggest problems epileptics deal with areseizures occurring at unpredictable times. However, this could quickly change if Luczak'shypothesis turns out to be correct.

"By better understanding how the brain is getting into this seizure state, we can help design some better treatments in the future," he said.

He says this could lead toa treatment that suppresses a memory, which would be similar to drugs thattreat PTSD.

"We can apply those drugs which can somehow reduce those memories andhelp people forget those particular stressful memories that were subconsciously evoking seizures," he explained.

Hypothesis to be tested on rats

Luczak says that in order to prove this, his team will betesting the theory on rats since their brains are similar to human brains.

"By reading this activity of brain cells in the rats, we can get some idea of what the rats are thinking about and how it can trigger seizures," explainedthe researcher.

He says he believesseizures will manifest in the rats once they think about previously stressful situations.

"The holy grail of this research is to find some ways to predict when the seizure will happen," he said.

Luczakand his team were granted $530,000 to start their research, which will span the next five years.

"Many people are studying epilepsy and they are putting in electrodes to try to understand how epilepsy works," he said. "But this idea of linkingmemory to seizures and the type of experiments we proposedis really a novel idea on how to exploreconnections between memory and seizures."