That leaves her with clusters of brain tissue in the wrong place. In this month's issue of the journal Human Molecular Genetics , Walsh and his research team link such brain malformations with specific genes that result in two types of epilepsy. Normally, your brain crackles with well-organized electrical signals that guide your hand when you lift a hot cup of tea to your lips, or steer a car. But in epilepsy, such activity becomes chaotic. Uncontrolled electrical storms interrupt normal awareness and behavior.
Some seizures pass almost unnoticed.
Anywhere from 2 million to 10 million Americans suffer from epilepsy, Walsh says. The best estimates at this point, and they're only estimates, put those cases with a strong genetic component at 50 to 75 percent of the total. Epilepsy without a genetic connection can be caused by blows to the head, stroke, infection, tumors, and drug or alcohol abuse. Anticonvulsive drugs control seizures in many, but by no means all, epileptics. But recent advances in knowledge raise the hope of designing drugs to hit specific targets in the brain known to participate in the electric brainstorms.