Sleep Deprivation Exacerbates Seizures and Diminishes GABAergic Tonic Inhibition

Patients with epilepsy report that sleep deprivation is a common trigger for breakthrough seizures. The basic mechanism of this phenomenon is unknown. In the Kv1.1(-/-) mouse model of epilepsy, daily sleep deprivation indeed exacerbated seizures though these effects were lost after the third day. Sleep deprivation also accelerated mortality in similar to 52% of Kv1.1(-/-) mice, not observed in controls. Voltage-clamp experiments on the day after recovery from sleep deprivation showed reductions in GABAergic tonic inhibition in dentate granule cells in epileptic Kv1.1(-/-) mice. Our results suggest that sleep deprivation is detrimental to seizures and survival, possibly due to reductions in GABAergic tonic inhibition.

Automated summary

Sleep deprivation worsens seizures and survival in epileptic mice, possibly due to reductions in GABAergic tonic inhibition.