Epilepsy is a very common neurological problem.
Currently the economic burden to the health and social services as well as the lost gross national product costs the UK 2 billion a year. Clearly seizures in epilepsy are a network phenomena involving both changes at synapses, the coupling between cells, as well as excitability of the cells in the brain. Little is currently understood about the transition from a physiological process to a pathological one. In Southampton we have previously identified a number of adaptive changes associated with epileptogenesis. There is a growing body of evidence in a number of acute and chronic models of epilepsy that interictal discharges are caused by a number of adaptive changes in excitatory synaptic drive, recurrent synaptic connections and increases in cellular excitability.