家族性低钾型周期性麻痹的基因突变与临床特征

目的筛查家族性低钾型周期性麻痹相关基因突变位点,总结该病基因型和临床表型的相关性.方法应用聚合酶链反应（PCR）和DNA测序技术,对14个家族性低钾型周期性麻痹家系中的14例先证者进行候选基因CACNA1S、SCN4A、KCNE3的筛查,阳性者再对其家系中其他患者和健康亲属进行测序分析.结果14个家系中有3个家系其先证者存在已知的低钾型周期性麻痹相关突变（1个家系发生CACNA1S基因R1239H突变,2个家系发生SCN4A基因的R672H突变）.进一步对3个突变家系中4例其他患者和34名健康亲属测序分析发现,R1239H突变为完全外显率,R672H突变为不全外显率.同时还发现2种突变在发病年龄和乙酰唑胺的疗效等方面存在差异.结论中国低钾型周期性麻痹患者存在CACNA1S基因R1239H和SCN4A基因的R672H突变,2种突变的临床表型存在差异.     

家族性低钾型周期性麻痹基因型和表型分析

研究背景分析一中国汉族家族性低钾型周期性麻痹家系的致病基因和相关临床资料。方法采用DNA序列技术对先证者(Ⅲ3)进行CACNA1S、SCN4A、KCNE3全基因组筛查,针对检测到的变异进一步检测家系中其他患者和无症状家系成员是否存在相同基因突变,经对临床资料分析以确定相关基因突变是否为致病性突变基因。结果先证者(Ⅲ3)及家系中其他患者(Ⅱ1、Ⅲ4、Ⅳ3)均检测到CACNA1S基因IVS25-194C/T突变,而无症状家系成员(Ⅲ1)未检测到该突变;该家系成员(除Ⅰ1)均检测到SCN4A基因IVS18-130G/A突变,该位点位于内含子区域且有症状和无症状家系成员同时出现;先证者(Ⅲ3)和无症状家系成员(Ⅲ1)同时检测到SCN4A基因外显子12区域c.1984GA突变,系错义突变(V662I),但家系中其他患者(Ⅱ1、Ⅲ4、Ⅳ3)均未发现该位点突变。结论结合临床资料和生物信息学预测,推测CACNA1S、SCN4A、KCNE3基因突变均非该家系致病性突变基因。但该家系资料丰富了我国原发性低钾型周期性麻痹家系的临床和基因数据库。除KCNE3、CACNA1S和SCN4A基因外,中国低钾型周期性麻痹家系可能存在新的致病基因突变,尚待进一步研究。     

SCN4A基因V781I突变与原发性低钾型周期性麻痹

目的明确SCN4A基因V781I突变是否为我国原发性低钾型周期性麻痹的相关突变。方法利用PCR-直接测序技术和酶切技术对1个低钾型周期性麻痹家系（3例患者和14名健康亲属）、71例散发性低钾型周期性麻痹患者以及100名健康人进行了SCN4A基因V781I突变的筛查。结果低钾型周期性麻痹家系中所有患者均存在此突变，且有4名健康亲属携带此突变（1名男性，3名女性）。71例散发性低钾型周期性麻痹患者中有7例存在此突变，100名健康人中也有7例存在此突变，该两组间V781I突变频率差异无统计学意义（X^2=0．452，P=0．502）。结论SCN4A基因V781I突变在低钾型周期性麻痹患者与健康人中的突变频率差异无统计学意义，此突变可能是正常基因多态性。     

正常血钾型周期性麻痹与高钾型周期性麻痹关系的基因研究

目的 探讨正常血钾型周期性麻痹(normoPP)的临床特点并在基因水平上研究normoPP与高钾型周期性麻痹(hyperPP)的关系。方法 研究患有normoPP。的2个家系及2例散发病例的临床特点，并应用聚合酶链反应—单链构象多态性分析(PCR—SSCP)方法检测其中18例患者及其亲属的SCN4A基因，并对发现异常构象的单链进行测序。为了确保试验结果可靠，每个家庭中至少1例患者进行了测序。结果 18例患者常规实验室检查未见异常，肌电图正常。散发病例2在发作间期行肌肉活检，光镜下未见异常，电镜下示局灶性肌纤维变性。基因研究发现：(1)家系1发生Metl592Val突变；(2)散发病例2及其父亲的SCN4A基因出现点突变G2418A，引起氨基酸序列的改变Val781Ile。(3)家系2和散发病例1未发生已知的可导致hyperPP的突变(Thr704Met、Alall56Thr、Met1360Val、Ilel495Phe、Met1592Val)。结论 NormoPP与hyperPP在临床表现方面有一定的相似性，二者可有共同的突变位点。     

骨骼肌钠通道α1亚基基因R1129Q新突变导致正常钾和低钾性周期性瘫痪一家系

目的 报道1个骨骼肌钠通道α1亚基(SCN4A)基因新突变导致的正常钾和低钾性周期性瘫痪家系的临床和病理改变特点.方法 本家系为常染色体显性遗传,共有9例患者,男性4例,女性5例,发病年龄7～25岁.5例患者为正常钾性周期性瘫痪,其中4例伴随肌强直症状;3例患者为低钾性周期性瘫痪;1例发作时血钾浓度不详.对先证者进行左肱二头肌活体组织检查.先证者和7例家系患者、3名无症状家系成员以及50名健康人行SCN4A基因测序.结果 先证者的肌纤维出现轻度肥大和萎缩,伴随核内移和肌纤维内空泡,部分肌纤维内氧化酶分布异常.所有患者均存在SCN4A基因的R1129Q突变,3名无症状家系成员以及50名健康对照无此突变.结论 SCN4A基因R1129Q新突变在同一家系内可以导致低血钾性和正常血钾性周期性瘫痪共存.     

骨骼肌钠通道α1亚基基因R1129Q新突变导致正常钾和低钾性周期性瘫痪一家系

目的 报道1个骨骼肌钠通道α1亚基(SCN4A)基因新突变导致的正常钾和低钾性周期性瘫痪家系的临床和病理改变特点.方法 本家系为常染色体显性遗传,共有9例患者,男性4例,女性5例,发病年龄7～25岁.5例患者为正常钾性周期性瘫痪,其中4例伴随肌强直症状;3例患者为低钾性周期性瘫痪;1例发作时血钾浓度不详.对先证者进行左肱二头肌活体组织检查.先证者和7例家系患者、3名无症状家系成员以及50名健康人行SCN4A基因测序.结果 先证者的肌纤维出现轻度肥大和萎缩,伴随核内移和肌纤维内空泡,部分肌纤维内氧化酶分布异常.所有患者均存在SCN4A基因的R1129Q突变,3名无症状家系成员以及50名健康对照无此突变.结论 SCN4A基因R1129Q新突变在同一家系内可以导致低血钾性和正常血钾性周期性瘫痪共存.     

家族性高钾型周期性麻痹的SCN4A基因突变

目的　筛查1个高钾型周期性麻痹(hyperkalemicperiodicparalysis, hyperKPP)家系的SCN4A基因,明确该病与SCN4A基因的关系。方法　总结1个hyperKPP家系中7例患者的临床特点,应用变性液相色谱(denaturinghighperformanceliquidchromatography,DHPLC)技术筛查SCN4A基因全部24个外显子,对发现异常洗脱峰者进行连锁分析并测序。结果　该家系具有典型hyperKPP临床特征,但无肌强直。先证者经DHPLC筛查发现在外显子13、23及24存在杂合二倍体。测序及连锁分析证实位于外显子13的碱基替换引起氨基酸序列改变(Thr704Met);外显子23的碱基替换虽引起氨基酸序列改变(Asp1376Asn)与疾病连锁,但进一步研究显示其为一良性多态;外显子24的碱基替换为同义突变。结论　该家族性hyperKPP与SCN4A基因相关,并由最常见的突变Thr704Met引起。     

原发性低钾型周期性麻痹相关离子通道基因突变研究进展

目前已知原发性低钾型周期性麻痹(hypokalaemic periodic paralysis,HypoPP)与遗传有关,约69.0%与电压门控钙通道α1亚单位基因CACNA1S(1q31-32)突变相关(Ⅰ型),约8.6%与电压门控钠通道α亚单位基因SCN4A(17q23.1-25.3)突变相关(Ⅱ型),22.4%未知。所有的错义突变均位于离子通道电压感受器上带正电荷的精氨酸(Arg),大部分被组氨酸(His)替代,有时被甘氨酸(Gly)、丝氨酸(Ser)替代。从CACNA1S基因编码的钙通道α1亚单位的第Ⅱ和第Ⅳ结构域S4跨膜区发现了Arg528His/Gly、Arg1239His/Gly突变,从SCN4A基因编码的钠通道α亚单位第Ⅱ结构域S4跨膜区发现Arg669His,Arg672His/Gly/Ser突变。突变通道的功能研究发现,突变钙通道出现钙电流密度下降,钙通道激活减慢;突变钠通道失活明显增强,动作电位达到峰值的速率和传导速率减低。该文对HypoPP相关离子通道基因突变及其突变基因的功能进行综述,以利对HypoPP的深入理解。     

周期性麻痹性副肌强直一家系临床及分子生物学特点

目的 报道1个伴永久性肌病的周期性麻痹性副肌强直汉族家系的临床特点,并对其热点基因进行突变分析.方法 收集1个伴永久性肌病的周期性麻痹性副肌强直汉族家系的病史、临床特点,并于发作间期对部分患者进行常规肌电图检查、运动和冷水试验;对该家系中部分成员成人骨骼肌钠通道的仅亚单位(SCN4A)基因进行突变分析.结果 该家系4代中有15例成员患病,同时表现出正常血钾性周期性麻痹和副肌强直的特点,临床表现严重,中年后进展为进展性肌病.肌电图可见强直放电,运动试验复合肌肉动作电位(CMAP)波幅下降>4JD%,冷水试验CMAP下降大于运动实验.基因分析发现SCN4A基因存在Met1592Val突变.结论 该家系为常染色体显性遗传,外显率完全,表现型与基因型的关系与国外报道大致一致,但表现型更为严重;肌电图运动试验和冷水试验是一种简单、可靠、易行的辅助诊断方法.周期性麻痹和副肌强直可由同一个突变所引起,对于伴有永久性肌病的周期性麻痹性副肌强直患者SCN4A Met1592Val可作为筛查对象.     

结节性硬化症TSC2基因5238-5255 del 18 bp及2713 C>T基因突变分析

目的检测并分析2例中国汉族结节性硬化症(tuberous sclerosis complex,TSC)患者TSC2基因突变特点。方法采用直接测序法对31个家系的34例TSC患者及其父母33名进行TSC1基因和TSC2基因全长编码外显子基因检测。测序后发现第25家系先证者为TSC2基因外显子40的框内移码突变5238-5255 del 18 bp,第11家系先证者为TSC2基因外显子23错义突变Arg905Trp。进一步采用变性凝胶电泳及内切酶技术在患者与120名正常对照中检测这两种突变。结果第25家系先证者外显子40出现5238-5255d el CATCAAGCGGCTCCGCCA突变,导致6个氨基酸缺失的框内移码突变(1746-1751del His-Ile-Lys-Arg-Leu-Gly),第11家系先证者外显子23出现2713 C>T(Arg905Trp)错义突变,2713位碱基由胞嘧啶(C)改变为胸腺嘧啶(T),导致第905位氨基酸精氨酸被色氨酸替代。120名正常对照未检测到这两种突变。结论TSC2基因5238-5255 del 18 bp及2713 C>T突变为两种致病性突变。     

Diagnostic Difficulties and Treatment Implications

Summary: Differentiation between types of epileptic seizures has been aided in recent years by the introduction of intensive neurodiagnostic techniques and the development of increasingly detailed classification systems. Paradoxically, these developments have not simplified the task of matching the appropriate antiepileptic drug to a particular seizure type. It is reasonable to assume that anticonvulsant drugs will have different effects on different types of seizures, but faulty, circular reasoning can enter the picture if one also assumes that responses of seizures to different drugs signify different seizure types. There are several examples of differential diagnoses that can fall prey to this problem, including the diagnosis between partial seizures with secondary generalization and generalized tonic-clonic seizures, and the diagnosis between complex partial seizures and absence seizures with automatisms, among others. Considerations of etiology in future classification systems can further complicate the problem: should one then choose an anticonvulsant drug on the basis of individual seizure type or on the basis of the type of epilepsy? Ramifications of this issue extend even to the drug approval process. Official sanction is not given for use of a drug for a seizure type not included in the original efficacy studies, even if later scientific evidence shows that seizure type to be related to a type that is included. New trials must be undertaken. These problems arise from how we choose to classify seizures.     

Cognitive Dysfunction Associated with Antiepileptic Drug Therapy

Summary: Epilepsy is frequently associated with cognitive dysfunction. However, the reasons for this correlation are unclear. Possible influential factors include patient age; duration, frequency, etiology, and type of seizures; hereditary factors; psychosocial issues; and antiepileptic drug (AED) therapy. Whereas many of these factors are beyond the physician's control, AED therapy is one element that can be addressed in treatment decisions by recognizing the potential cognitive effects of particular AEDs. For example, phenobarbital impairs memory and concentration; phenytoin affects attention, problem solving ability, and performance of visuomotor tasks. In contrast, carbamazepine may affect concentration, while valproate would appear to have minimal effects on cognition. Moreover, cognitive effects of AEDs are amplified with coadministration of multiple anticonvulsants (polytherapy). A review of studies on the cognitive effects of monotherapy with AEDs, as opposed to those of polytherapy, provides evidence that drug-related cognitive dysfunction can be reversed if patients are switched to a simpler therapeutic regimen. Future research should be directed toward developing reliable measures for assessing and monitoring cognition, and understanding the particular cognitive side effects of each AED. Physicians also need to revise their opinions about which side effects are "tolerable" for epileptic patients.     

Hepatic Considerations in the Use of Antiepileptic Drugs

Summary: Virtually all of the major antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) can cause hepatotoxicity, although fatal hepatic reactions are rare. The mechanisms, incidences, and risk profiles for such reactions differ from drug to drug. With carbamazepine and phenytoin, hepatotoxicity may be due to drug hypersensitivity. Although the profiles of patients at risk have not been well-defined for these two antiepileptic drugs, it would appear from reports in the literature that older adolescents and adults are at higher risk than children of developing serious or fatal hepatotoxicity. Once hepatotoxicity develops, mortality rates are 10–38% with phenytoin and 25% for carbamazepine. The risk profile for valproate fatal hepatotoxicity has been more clearly defined. Those at primary risk of fatal hepatic dysfunction are children under the age of 2 years who are receiving multiple anticonvulsants and also have significant medical problems in addition to severe epilepsy. The risk is considerably lower for patients over the age of 2 years on valproate monotherapy. In contrast to the risk profile with other AEDs, adults receiving valproate as monotherapy have the lowest risk of hepatotoxicity. Fatal hepatic dysfunction coincident with valproate may be the result of aberrant drug metabolism. Concomitant use of AEDs that induce microsomal P450 enzymes (e.g., phenytoin and phenobarbital) may enhance the production of a toxic metabolite, and hence the greater risk of hepatotoxicity with polypharmacy.     

Vascular Malformations and Epilepsy: Clinical Considerations and Basic Mechanisms

Summary: Vascular malformations (VMs) are associated with epilepsy. The natural history of the various VMs, clinical presentation, and tendency to provoke epilepsy determine treatment strategies. Investigations have probed the mechanisms of epileptogenesis associated with these lesions. Electrophysiologic changes are associated with epileptogenic cortex adjacent to VMs. Putative pathophysiologic mechanisms of epileptogenesis include neuronal cell loss, glial proliferation and abnormal glial physiology, altered neurotransmitter levels, free radical formation, and aberrant second messenger physiology.     

Carbamazepine Efficacy in Adults With Partial and Generalized Tonic-Clonic Seizures

Summary: Carbamazepine and phenytoin are drugs of choice in initial monotherapy for adult partial and secondarily generalized tonic-clonic seizures. These designations reflect the results of the Veterans Administration Epilepsy Cooperative Study Group of 1985. An earlier comparative study of carbamazepine and phenytoin by Ramsay and associates found both drugs equally effective in controlling new-onset seizures. Among the advantages of carbamazepine is that it causes relatively few cognitive and dysmorphic side effects. Its disadvantages are its unavailability in parenteral formulation and its metabolic autoinduction. The latter must be compensated for by planned dosage increases to maintain therapeutic plasma steady-state levels during the first 2 or 3 months of treatment. Carbamazepine is judged a drug of choice in the treatment of these secondarily generalized tonic-clonic seizures, and the drug of choice in children, adolescents, and women susceptible to the dysmorphic side effects associated with other anticonvulsant agents.     

Etiologic and Preventive Aspects of Epilepsy in the Child–Bridging the Gap Between Laboratory and Clinic

Summary: Four broad categories of basic phenomena are pertinent to developing ways to prevent epilepsy. These include mechanisms of epileptogenesis, ictal initiation and temporary entrainment by the seizure discharge of normally functioning brain, seizure propagation, and control mechanisms that function both to restrain the cascade of epileptic events culminating in a seizure and to arrest the epileptic event and restore the interictal state. In newborns and children, hypoxia-ischemia is a major factor leading to epileptogenesis, and several schemes are proposed to classify, quantify, and prevent hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. Control mechanisms must be better understood in order to develop prophylactic recommendations for epilepsy, and an experimental model of "kindling antagonism" may increase our understanding of these. Programs of prevention of seizures in children will evolve only if basic researchers and clinicians work productively together to develop an adequate understanding of factors important in epileptogenesis and antiepileptogenic control mechanisms.     

Epilepsy and anomalies of neuronal migration: MRI and clinical aspects

Neuronal migration disorders are the result of disturbed brain development. In such disorders, neurons are abnormally located. In diagnosing these conditions, magnetic resonance imaging is superior to any other imaging technique. This enables us to improve our knowledge of the clinical correlates of neuronal migration. With reference to migrational disorder, a retrospective study of all 303 patients with epileptic seizures referred for magnetic resonance imaging during a 3-year period was performed, 13 patients (aged 12-41, mean age 27) were identified. They represent 4.3% of the entire study group. Of the patients with known epilepsy, 6.7% and of the mentally retarded, 13.7% had migrational disorders. Four patients had schizencephaly as the dominant finding, one was classified as hemimegalencephaly, 2 had isolated heterotopias, and 6 had localized pachy- and/or poly-microgyria. The clinical pictures are complex. Ectopias of grey matter are recognised foci of epilepsy, but from an epileptological and a clinical viewpoint little attention has been given to these disorders. The present study shows that malmigration is not rare in epilepsy patients, especially not in the mentally retarded.     

Carbamazepine Efficacy and Utilization in Children

Summary: Carbamazepine is effective for preventing partial and generalized tonic-clonic seizures in children. Although absence epilepsies are more common in children than adults, an estimated 80% of children with epilepsy have seizure types or epilepsies that are potentially responsive to carbamazepine. The differential diagnosis of ictal staring is an especially important issue in children because absence and atypical absence seizures are more prevalent in children than adults. Age-related pharmacokinetic differences and drug interactions are major considerations in children. On average, children have higher clearance rates of carbamazepine, shorter half-lives, and higher ratios of carbamazepine-10, 11-epoxide to carbamazepine than adults. In addition, children with severe epilepsy are more likely to require multiple-drug therapy, which can lead to complex drug interactions. When carbamazepine is administered along with valproate, drug protein binding interactions can cause intermittent side effects.     

Predisposing and Causative Factors in Childhood Epilepsy

Summary: We review information from large studies of defined populations, examining the role of known factors and especially of prenatal and perinatal factors in contributing to nonfebrile seizure disorders of early childhood. We depend especially, but not exclusively, on the recently completed analyses from the Collaborative Perinatal Project of the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke, the NCPP. About 4% of children in the NCPP who had at least one non-febrile nonsymptomatic seizure by the age of 7 years had a previous seizure during acute neurologic illness, such as meningitis or during the acute illness after trauma. Many such seizures should potentially be preventable. Of children with seizures, 10% had had a neonatal seizure and 13% had had a febrile seizure. Among the hundreds of prenatal and perinatal factors explored as predictors of childhood seizure disorders, the principal predictors identified were congenital malformations of the fetus, cerebral and noncerebral; family history of certain neurologic disorders; and neonatal seizures. In agreement with the British National Child Development Study, labor and delivery factors in the NCPP appeared to contribute very little to childhood seizure disorders. Maldevelopment, rather than damage at birth to an initially intact nervous system, appeared to be the more common mechanism. Most seizure disorders of early childhood remained unexplained by the large set of prenatal and perinatal characteristics examined.     

Classification of methods in transcranial Electrical Stimulation (tES) and evolving strategy from historical approaches to contemporary innovations

Transcranial Electrical Stimulation (tES) encompasses all methods of non-invasive current application to the brain used in research and clinical practice. We present the first comprehensive and technical review, explaining the evolution of tES in both terminology and dosage over the past 100 years of research to present day. Current transcranial Pulsed Current Stimulation (tPCS) approaches such as Cranial Electrotherapy Stimulation (CES) descended from Electrosleep (ES) through Cranial Electro-stimulation Therapy (CET), Transcerebral Electrotherapy (TCET), and NeuroElectric Therapy (NET) while others like Transcutaneous Cranial Electrical Stimulation (TCES) descended from Electroanesthesia (EA) through Limoge, and Interferential Stimulation. Prior to a contemporary resurgence in interest, variations of transcranial Direct Current Stimulation were explored intermittently, including Polarizing current, Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation (GVS), and Transcranial Micropolarization. The development of these approaches alongside Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) and pharmacological developments are considered. Both the roots and unique features of contemporary approaches such as transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) and transcranial Random Noise Stimulation (tRNS) are discussed. Trends and incremental developments in electrode montage and waveform spanning decades are presented leading to the present day. Commercial devices, seminal conferences, and regulatory decisions are noted. We conclude with six rules on how increasing medical and technological sophistication may now be leveraged for broader success and adoption of tES.