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Short-term plasticity of central benzodiazepine receptors in status epilepticus: case report.

Amemiya S, Hamamoto M, Mishina M, Ueda M, Kumagai T, Nishiyama Y, Katayama Y

Division of Neurology, Nephrology and Rheumatology, Internal Medicine, Nippon Medical School, Tokyo, Japan. amemiya@nms.ac.jp

(123)I-iomazenil SPECT is of value in determining an epileptogenic focus, however, transient uptake change has been rarely reported in epileptic disorders. A 78-year-old woman diagnosed as status epilepticus (SE) showed transient reduction in (123)I-iomazenil uptake within the epileptic foci on SPECT images during a couple of weeks. It suggests a seizure-related 'short-term' plasticity in the central benzodiazepine receptors and dynamic change in the regulatory mechanisms of inhibitory neurotransmitter system within the epileptic foci in patients with SE.

Published 12 March 2008 in Acta Neurol Scand, 117(4): 285-8.
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