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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Sleep Sci 2022; 15(02): 245-249
DOI: 10.5935/1984-0063.20220046
Reviews

Sleep deprivation: a risk for epileptic seizures

Jason Tyler Dell’Aquila
1   Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, Osteopathic Medical Student, 2nd year year - Elmira - New York - United States.
,
Varun Soti
2   Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, Assistant Professor of Pharmacology - Elmira - New York - United States.
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There is a well-documented correlation between epilepsy and sleep deprivation. For decades, preclinical and clinical studies have shown that sleep deprivation can lead to an increased risk of epileptic seizures. Additionally, sleep deprivation has been used clinically as a diagnostic tool for epilepsy by triggering epileptiform activity. However, an underlying mechanism for this relationship is yet to be confirmed. Interestingly, a decrease in gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-mediated tonic inhibition has been shown in both epilepsy and sleep deprivation. This review focuses on the role of sleep deprivation in the induction of epileptic seizures and the possible role of reduced GABA receptor expression in the sleep-deprived state.

Epilepsy - Sleep - Physiology - Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid

Declaration

The authors did not receive any funding and report no conflicts of interest in this work.




Publication History

Received: 02 July 2021

Accepted: 15 October 2021

Article published online:
01 December 2023

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