GENETICS OF THE EPILEPSIES

The epilepsy gene map has been refined and extended with new informati on concerning benign familial neonatal convulsions, benign familial in fantile convulsions, Unverricht-Lundborg disease, epilepsy with progre ssive mental retardation and juvenile myoclonic epilepsy. Understandin g of the molecular basis of paroxysmal disorders affecting the central nervous system has been revolutionalized with the identification of m utations in genes for the neurotransmitter receptors, GLRA1 and CHRNA4 , and a voltage-gated potassium channel, KCNA1, as causes of inherited neurological disease.