Work with collaborators reveals hypothalamic neuronal loss, inflammation and thyroid axis changes in experimental temporal lobe epilepsy.
Using 7 T magnetic resonance spectroscopy thermometry, EEG with implanted temperature probes and transcriptomics of hypothalamic temperature-sensing regions, the study found that hippocampal temperature rises before epilepsy onset and that body temperature increases around spontaneous seizures. Hypothalamic volume was reduced in epileptic mice and in people with epilepsy, pointing to a link between thermoregulatory dysfunction and seizure generation.