Early life stress influences epilepsy outcomes in mice.

ABSTRACT: Stress is a common seizure trigger that has been implicated in worsening epilepsy outcomes, which encompasses psychiatric and cognitive comorbidities and sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) risk. The neuroendocrine response to stress is mediated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and HPA axis dysfunction worsens epilepsy outcomes, increasing seizure burden, behavioral comorbidities, and risk for SUDEP in mice. Early life stress (ELS) reprograms the HPA axis into adulthood, impacting both the basal and stress-induced activity. Thus, we propose that ELS may influence epilepsy outcomes by influencing the function of the HPA axis. To test this hypothesis, we utilized the maternal separation paradigm and examined the impact on seizure susceptibility. We show that ELS exert

SUBMITTER: Coleman EM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11830541 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature