Genetics of Epilepsy

The book chapters cover different aspects of epilepsy genetics, starting with the "classical" concept of epilepsies as ion channel disorders. The second part of the book gives credit to the fact that by now non-ion channel genes are recognized as equally important causes of epilepsy. The concluding chapters are designed to offer the reader insight into current methods in epilepsy research. Each chapter is self-contained and deals with a selected topic of interest.

1. Genetic Heterogeneity in Familial Nocturnal Frontal Lobe Epilepsy

Ortrud K. Steinlein

2. Potassium Channel Genes and Benign Familial Neonatal Epilepsy

Snezana Maljevic and Holger Lerche

3. Mutant GABA_A Receptor Subunits in Genetic (Idiopathic) Epilepsy

Shinichi Hirose

4. The Role of Calcium Channel Mutations in Human Epilepsy

Antonio Gambardella and Angelo Labate

5. Mechanisms Underlying Epilepsies Associated with Sodium Channel Mutations

Ortrud K. Steinlein

6. The Progressive Myoclonus Epilepsies

Berge A. Minassian

7. Genetics Advances in Autosomal Dominant Focal Epilepsies: Focus on DEPDC5

Stéphanie Baulac

8. PRRT2: A Major Cause of Infantile Epilepsy and other Paroxysmal Disorders of Childhood

Carlo Nobile and Pasquale Striano

9. LGI1: From Zebrafish to Human Epilepsy

John K. Cowell

10. Morphogenesis and Timing of Genetically-Programmed Brain Malformations in Relation to Epilepsy

Harvey B. Sarnat and Laura Flores-Sarnat

11. Remind Me Again What Disease We are Studying? A Population Genetics, Genetic Analysis, and Real Data Perspective on Why Progress on Identifying Genetic Influences on Common Epilepsies has Been So Slow

David A. Greenberg and William L. Stewart

12. Monogenic Models of Absence Epilepsy: Windows into the Complex Balance between Inhibition and Excitation in Thalamocortical Microcircuits

Atul Maheshwari and Jeffrey L. Noebels

13. New Technologies in Molecular Genetics: The Impact on Epilepsy Research

Ingo Helbig

14. Epigenetic Mechanisms in Epilepsy Katja Kobow and Ingmar Blümcke