Upregulation of liprin-α1 protein in the temporal neocortex of intractable epileptic patients and experimental rats.

Intractable epilepsy (IE) patients have synaptic dysfunction. However, the exact mechanism of synaptic function needs further elucidation. The aim of this study was to use immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, and Western blotting to investigate the expression of the Liprin-α1 protein, one of the synapse-associated proteins, in human IE brain tissues and experimental rats and to discuss the possible role of Liprin-α1 in IE. We selected 30 temporal neocortical tissue samples from patients with intractable temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and 10 histologically normal temporal lobes from controls. Fifty-six Sprague-Dawley rats were divided randomly into seven groups; one control group and six groups with epilepsy induced by lithium-pilocarpine administration. Temporal lobe tissues were taken from controls and from rats at 1, 3, 7, 14, 30, and 60 days postseizure. Liprin-α1 was mainly expressed in neurons of human controls and TLE patients and was significantly higher in TLE patients than in controls. Liprin-α1 was also expressed in neurons of control and experimental rats and it was significantly higher in experimental rats than in the control group. The expression of Liprin-α1 in animals in the experimental group gradually increased from Days 1 to 30 postseizure induction and reached a stable level when spontaneous recurrent seizures (SRS) appeared. These results suggest that an increased expression of Liprin-α1 in the brain may be associated with human IE.