This brief reviews a published paper that reported findings on neurotransmitter deficiencies in two patients with mutation in voltage-gated sodium genes (SCN2A and SCN8A).

The exact prevalence of comorbidities in pediatric patients is somewhat unknown at this time as comorbidities can be under-diagnosed. This News & Views article provides insight on the importance of early identification and treatment of comorbidities with children with epilepsy.

This article outlines the mechanisms through which a mutation in SCN8A results in seizures. Through experimentation in mouse models, researchers have found that decreased SCN8A function in the cortex can lead to convulsive seizure resistance, while decreased SCN8A function in the thalamus can generate absence seizures. The results of this study could motivate future research on the role of SCN8A in other thalamic processes including sleep, attention, and consciousness.

This article summarizes advancements in biotechnology and recent discoveries in epilepsy, which will prospectively be translated into distinct therapy options for the individual patient. These discoveries include the role of inflammatory cell types in the development of epilepsy, the use of intracranial neurostimulation in interrupting seizures, as well as a discussion of the role of bioinformatics in gene identification.