Behavioral, cognitive and histopathological aspects of patients with drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy who underwent epilepsy surgery

MICAELA SANZO, FAUSTO CALELLA, LUCAS ORLANDO QUIIROLES, MATS SNIJDERS, PATRICIA SOLÍS, HECTOR KONOPKA, PABLO SEOANE, SILVIA ODDO, LAURA RUTH GUELMAN, LUCIANA D`ALESSIO

Mar del Plata

Congreso; Reunión conjunta SAI-SAIC-SAFE-Nanomed; 2022

Sociedad Argentina de Investigación Clínica

Introduction: The histopathological compromise of the temporal pole in patients with resistant temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and hippocampal sclerosis (HS) may be associated with behavioral and cognitive symptoms. The aim of this study was to analyze histological markers and to correlate with clinical, cognitive and behavioral variables.Methods: Histological samples of temporal cortex (pole), obtained from patients with resistant TLE who underwent standard temporal lobectomy, were included. Samples were studied with immunohistochemistry (immunoperoxidase) with antibodies Anti-NeuN, Anti-GFAP and Anti-Calbindina (CB). In addition, the clinical records of the presurgical protocol were reviewed, including clinical and complementary studies (VEEG, MRI), cognitive studies (Rey Complex Figure, Rey Auditory Verbal Learning), behavioral assessment (SCID I - DSM IV, depression Beck Inventory, EJE V). Nonparametric statistic tests were performed. Results: Twenty-five patients with resistant TLE and HS were included. Five of them presented a temporal pole cortex compromise in the MRI (blurring or HS plus; focal cortical dysplasia IIIa). Eight posmortem samples, matched by age and sex without pathology, were included. We found a higher density of CB+ neurons ratio in layer II of patients with blurring compared to controls (p=0,047, Kruskal Wallis). In patients with TLE (n=25), the density of glia nuclei showed a significant correlation with the epilepsy time duration (r= - 0,48, p=0.03). In addition, the neuronal density negatively correlated with the global functionality scale (Axis V of DSM IV) (r= - 0,41; p=0,014) (Spearman).Conclusion: In this exploratory study a higher density of CB+ neurons was associated with MRI blurring. Clinical and behavioral symptoms correlated with histopathological changes of the temporal pole. Further studies should be made to confirm these preliminary findings.