A Review on the Pathophysiology of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy: from Neuroplasticity to Neuronal Death

This review is focused and tries to introduce the reader in the basic concepts of the epilepsy, specially of the temporal lobe epilepsy. From the knowledge provided by different animal models, it’s introduced to the physiopathology of this type of epilepsy recognizing the participation of two systems of neurotransmition: the gabaergic and glutamatergic. It is known that an excess of glutamate has as a consequence neuronal death, this is the excitotoxicity. It’s enumerated different reports that, although they sometimes proved contradictory results, the majority find neuronal death in areas of the limbic system after a status epilepticus in experimental animals.Finally, since the brain is not immutable to this death, the principal concepts of the neuroplasticidad are review, providing reports that demonstrate that plastic processes happen in epileptic brains, both in the hippocampus and in the amygdala.