Correlation between level of serum prolactin and epileptic discharges of electroencephalogram from 24 to 36 hours after epileptic onset

BACKGROUND： Researchers discovered that serum prolactin could rise following an epileptic seizure. The prolactin level might reach three times more than basic level within 30 minutes and decrease to the normal value 2 hours after the seizure occurred. The mechanism might result in an increase of serum prolactin concentrations with the activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary axis. OBJECTIVE：To probe into the correlation between changes of serum prolactin and incidence of epileptic discharges of electroencephalogram （EEG） at 24-36 hours after epileptic onset of patients with secondary epilepsy. DESIGN ： Clinical observational study SEI-FING： Department of Neurology, First Hospital affiliated to Soochow University PARTICIPANTS： A total of 21 patients with secondary epilepsy were selected from the Department of Neurological Emergency or Hospital Room of the First Hospital affiliated to Soochow University from November 2005 to April 2006. There were 14 males and 7 females aged from 25 to 72 years. All patients met International League Anti-epileptic （ILAE） criteria in 1981 for secondary generalized tonic clonic seizure through CT or MRI and previous EEG. All patients were consent. Primary diseases included cerebral trauma （3 cases）, tumor （2 cases）, stroke （7 cases） and intracranial infeion （9 cases）. METHODS ： Venous blood of all patients was collected at 24-36 hours after epileptic onset. Serum prolactin kit （Beckman Coulter, Inc in USA） was used to measure value of serum prolactin according to kit instruction. Then, value of serum prolactin was compared with the normal value （male： 2.64-13.13 mg/L; female： 3.34- 26.72 mg/L）; meanwhile, EEG equipment （American Nicolet Incorporation） was used in this study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES ： ① Abnormal rate of serum prolactin of patients with secondary epilepsy; ②Comparison between normal and abnormal level of serum prolactin and incidence of EEG epileptic discharge of patients with secondary epilepsy. RESULTS：All 21 patients with secondary epilepsy were involved in the final analysis. ① Results of serum prolactin level： Among 21 patients with of secondary epilepsy, 10 of them had normal serum prolactin and 11 had abnormal one, and the abnormal rate was 52% （11/21）. ② Detecting results of EEG： EEG results showed that 6 cases were normal and 15 were abnormal, and the abnormal rate was 71% （15/21）. The symptoms were sharp wave, spike wave or sharp slow wave, spike slow wave of epileptic discharges in 8 cases, which was accounted for 38%. ③ Correlation between abnormality of serum prolactin and EEG epileptic wave： Eleven cases had abnormal serum prolactin, and the incidence was 64% （7/11）, which was higher of epileptic wave than that of non-epileptic wave [36% （4/11）, P 〈 0.05]; however, 10 cases had normal serum prolactin, and the incidence was 10% （1/10）. Epileptic wave was lower than non-epileptic wave [90% （9/10）, P 〈 0.01]. CONCLUSION ： The level of serum prolactin of patients with secondary epilepsy is abnormally increased at 24- 36 hours after epileptic onset; in addition, incidence of epileptic discharge is also increased remarkably.

Low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic simulation prevents chronic epileptic seizure

Although low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic simulation can potentially treat epilepsy, its underlying mechanism remains unclear. This study investigated the influence of low-frequency re-petitive transcranial magnetic simulation on changes in several nonlinear dynamic electroenceph-alographic parameters in rats with chronic epilepsy and explored the mechanism underlying repeti-tive transcranial magnetic simulation-induced antiepileptic effects. An epilepsy model was estab-lished using lithium-pilocarpine intraperitoneal injection into adult Sprague-Dawley rats, which were then treated with repetitive transcranial magnetic simulation for 7 consecutive days. Nonlinear elec-electroencephalographic parameters were obtained from the rats at 7, 14, and 28 days post-stimulation. Results showed significantly lower mean correlation-dimension and Kolmogo-rov-entropy values for stimulated rats than for non-stimulated rats. At 28 days, the complexity and point-wise correlation dimensional values were lower in stimulated rats. Low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic simulation has suppressive effects on electrical activity in epileptic rats, thus explaining its effectiveness in treating epilepsy.