Dendritic but not somatic GABAergic inhibition is decreased in experimental epilepsy

Impaired inhibition is thought to be important in temporal lobe epilepsy (T LE), the most common form of epilepsy in adult patients. We report that, in experimental TLE, spontaneous GABAergic inhibition was increased in the so ma but reduced in the dendrites of pyramidal neurons. The former resulted f rom the hyperactivity of somatic projecting interneurons, whereas the latte r was probably due to the degeneration of a subpopulation of dendritic proj ecting interneurons. A deficit in dendritic inhibition could reduce seizure threshold, whereas enhanced somatic inhibition would prevent the continuou s occurrence of epileptiform activity.