The Role of Ion Channel in Epilepsy Including SUDEP Cases

Epilepsy is a central nervous system disorder characterized by recurrent seizures. Identification of seizures with excessive electrical activity can disrupt the electricity of tissues including the heart and lungs by also affecting the brain stem, which is the connection to the brain. Dysfunctional chemical transmissions in this autonomic nervous system, especially over the vagus nerve, impair the correct completion of electrical signaling. Since ion channels such as sodium, potassium, and calcium, which are proteins in the cell membrane, manage the membrane and action potential, problems in these ion channels contribute to the mechanism of epilepsy disorder. Mutations in the genes encoding ion channels not only affect the central nervous system, but also disrupt the electrical conduction in autonomic tissues as the heart, leading to sudden death in epilepsy (SUDEP) cases. Defects in genes encoding voltage-gated, ligand-gated, and lipid-gated ion channels unfortunately are resulted in channelopathy and impair the ionic current regarding as gain/loss of function. In this book chapter, the literature of ion channels leading to epilepsy and the emergence of the concept of SUDEP was discussed.