Participación de los canales de calcio dependientes de voltaje en el desarrollo de la epilepsia

Epilepsy is de3ned as a chronic condition produced by different etiologies, characterized by the repetition of crises due to an excessive discharge of the cerebral neurons associated with clinical symptoms. It responds to a fast ion depolarization in a population of abnormal neurons. Causes of epilepsy are: genetic alterations, perinatal anoxia, traumatisms, tumors, congenital malformations, metabolic alterations, drug poisonings, and infections of the nervous system. Epileptic seizure is the transitory occurrence of signs and abnormal symptoms caused by excessive or synchronous neuronal activity, whereas, epilepsy is characterized by a permanent predisposition to generate seizures. During depolarization of neuronal membrane, calcium ions play an important role because they are intracellular messengers that regulate functions like: neurotransmitter release, neurosecretion, neuronal excitation, neuron survival and gene expression regulation . The in4ux of calcium through the plasmatic membrane represents a way to control intracellular calcium level. The mechanism of the entrance of calcium to the neuron is little known, but understanding the structure, function and regulation of voltagegated calcium channels is of remarkable progress.