Preface
Foreword Jerome Engel, Marc A. Dichter
Part I Seizures, epileptiform activities and regional localization
1 How can we identify ictal and interictal abnormal activity? Robert Fisher, Helen Scharfman, Marco de Curtis
2 How can we translate "epileptiform" activity in vitro into something that is clinically relevant? Uwe Heinemann, Kevin Staley
3 What is the importance of abnormal "background" activity in seizure generation? Richard Staba, Gregory Worrell
4 What is a seizure focus? J. Victor Nadler, Dennis Spencer
5 What is a seizure network? Very fast oscillations at the interface between normal and epileptic brain Roger Traub, Mark Cunningham, Miles Whittington
6 What is a seizure network? Long-range network consequences of focal seizures Hal Blumenfeld
7 Is there any such thing as "generalized" epilepsy? Gilles van Luijtelaar, Charles Behr, Massimo Avoli
Part II Synaptic plasticity
8 Are there really "epileptogenic" mechanisms or only corruptions of "normal" plasticity? Giuliano Avanzini, Patrick Forcelli, Karen Gale
9 When and how do seizures kill neurons - and is cell death relevant to epileptogenesis? Raymond Dingledine, Nicholas Varvek, F. Edward Dudek
10 How is homeostatic plasticity important in epilepsy? John Swann, Jong Rho
11 Is plasticity of GABA ergic mechanisms relevant to epileptogenesis? Helen Scharfman, Amy Brooks-Kayal
12 Do structural changes in GABA neurons give rise to the epileptic state? Carolyn Houser
13 Does mossy fiber sprouting give rise to the epileptic state? Paul Buckmaster
14 Does brain inflammation mediate pathological outcomes in epilepsy? Annamaria Vezzani, Karen Wilcox
15 Are changes in synaptic function that underlie hyperexcitability responsible for seizure activity? John Jefferys
16 Does epilepsy cause a reversion to immature function? Aristea Galanopoulou, Solomon Moshe
17 Are alterations in transmitter receptor and ion channel expression responsible for the epilepsies? Kim Powell, Katarzyna Lukasiuk, Terence O'Brien, Asla Pitkänen
Part III Models and methods
18 How do we assess the clinical relevance of models of mesial temporal lobe epilepsy? - Stephen Harward, James McNamara
19 How do we make models that are useful in understanding partial epilepsies? - David Prince
20 What non-neuronal mechanisms should be studied to understand epileptic seizures? Damir Janigro, Matthew Walker
21 What epilepsy comorbidities are important to model in the laboratory? Clinical perspectives Simon Shorvon
22.Understanding epilepsy comorbidities: how can animal models help? Carl Stafstrom
23 What new modeling approaches will help us identify promising drug treatments? Scott Baraban, Wolfgang Löscher
24 What are the arguments for and against rational therapy for epilepsy? Melissa Barker-Haliski, Graeme Sills, H. Steve White
25 How can advances in epilepsy genetics lead to better treatments and cures? Renzo Guerrini, Jeffrey Noebels
26 How might novel technologies such as optogenetics lead to better treatments in epilepsy? Esther Krook-Magnuson, Marco Ledri, Ivan Soltesz, Merab Kokaia.