Régis Lambert and Nathalie Leresche’s team¹, in collaboration with Professor Vincenzo Crunelli’s laboratory (Cardiff University, UK) have just published an article in Nature Neuroscience on absence epilepsy, the most common form of pediatric epilepsy. Absence-epilepsy seizures are due to an abnormal synchronization of the thalamocortical network. Using rodent models of the disease, researchers present the first description at the cellular level of the dynamics of this network during seizures in awake animals. This work will allow the development of new therapeutic approaches for this severely disabling child condition.

Nature Neurosciences published a "News and views" on the article in the same issue, and the CNRS posted an article on its website.

¹Réseaux de Neurones et Rythmes Physiopathologiques
²Cortical drive and thalamic feed-forward inhibition control thalamic output synchrony during absence seizures. McCafferty C, David F, Venzi M, L?rincz ML, Delicata F, Atherton Z, Recchia G, Orban G, Lambert RC, Di Giovanni G, Leresche N, Crunelli V.
Nat Neurosci. 2018 Apr 16. doi: 10.1038/s41593-018-0130-4.