A new study published in the journal Cell Reports identifies possible new treatments for absence (silent) seizures in children with Dravet syndrome. Children with Dravet syndrome have developmental delays, cognitive deficits, sleeping problems and seizures. The study focused on the thalamus in the brain and it showed that the inhibitory cells in the thalamus were more active. Two treatments to reduce these absence seizures were discovered: optogenetics and the drug, EBIO1. Optogenetics can control neuron activity with laser light, while EBIO1 is a drug that reduces the firing of inhibitory cells in the thalamus.
