Study of the anti-seizure effects of low-frequency stimulation following kindling (a review of the cellular mechanism related to the anti-seizure effects of low-frequency electrical stimulation)

Epilepsy affects about 1–2 % of world population as a chronic neurological disease that is manifested by repeated and consecutive seizures (Grone and Baraban, Nat Neurosci 18(3):339–343, 2015). There is no definitive therapy for epilepsy and antiepileptic drugs cannot offer a permanent and definitive cure for epilepsy, and most epileptic patients become drug resistant (Sasa, J Pharmacol Sci 100(5):487–494, 2006). Surgery and removal of the epileptic focus is a substitute method for treating drug-resistant patients and epilepsy surgery of either side of the brain improves seizure control. Temporal lobectomy is the most common epilepsy surgery and is associated with high success rates. Other studies have reported higher success rates for carefully selected temporal lobe seizure patients. Some physicians still consider temporal lobectomy an extreme procedure, citing the risks of side effects, including loss of memory, visual disturbances, and emotional change, associated with the removal of brain tissue (Spencer, Lancet Neurol 1(6):375–382, 2002; Wiebe et al., N Engl J Med 345(5):311–318, 2001; Yasargil et al., J Neurosurg 112(1):168–185, 2010). Nowadays, direct electrical stimulation (in the form of low- or high-frequency stimulation) in the location involved in seizures is used as a potentially suitable treatment method for this destructive disease in both laboratory animals and humans (Goodman et al., Epilepsia 46(1):1–7, 2005; Richardson et al., Epilepsia 44(6):768–777, 2003; Velasco et al., Epilepsia 41(2):158–169, 2000). Low-frequency stimulation causes less damage to the epileptic area and surrounding neuronal structures compared to high-frequency stimulation, and it can be a suitable option for patients suffering from epilepsy (Goodman et al., Epilepsia 46(1):1–7, 2005). Since the cellular mechanism of this stimulation is not clearly known, the purpose of this review research was to investigate the anticonvulsive effects of low-frequency electrical stimulation and the probable cellular mechanism involved in it.