The Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus model provides a preclinical framework to study infection-driven epilepsy and the role of the innate immune response in seizure development.
Provides preclinical framework for infection-driven epilepsy research; leaves open translation to human post-viral seizures.
Neurotropic viruses cause viral encephalitis and are associated with the development of seizures/epilepsy. The first infection-driven animal model for epilepsy, the Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus-induced seizure model is described herein. Intracerebral infection of C57BL/6 mice with Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus induces acute seizures from which the animals recover. However, once the virus is cleared, a significant portion of the animals that experienced acute seizures later develop epilepsy. Components of the innate immune response to viral infection, including IL-6 and complement component 3, have been implicated in the development of acute seizures. Multiple mechanisms, including neuronal cell destruction and cytokine activation, play a role in the development of acute seizures. Future studies targeting the innate immune response will lead to new therapies for seizures/epilepsy.
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Libbey et al. (2011) studied this question.
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