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Nature Medicine 11, 919 - 920 (2005)
doi:10.1038/nm0905-919
Astrocytes get in the act in epilepsy
Michael A Rogawski1
- The author is in the Epilepsy Research Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA. e-mail: michael.rogawski@nih.gov
Abstract
Neurons in the brain of individuals with focal epilepsy exhibit sustained discharges, called paroxysmal depolarization shifts. Unexpected new evidence indicates that glutamate release from glia can generate these events, and may serve to synchronize the activity of neurons (pages 973–981).
One of the most venerable dogmas of neuroscience is that signaling in the nervous system is a function of neurons and that glial cells serve a subsidiary role, only providing such prosaic functions as structural and nutritional support. In the past decade, this doctrine has become increasingly obsolete, as evidence has mounted for various forms of bidirectional communication between neurons and glia1.
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