Clinical Trial: Brain P-gp and Inflammation in People With Epilepsy

Study Status: Recruiting
Recruit Status: Recruiting
Study Type: Observational

Official Title: Positron Emission Tomography Measurement of Neuroinflammation in Focal Epilepsy

Brief Summary:

Background:

The brain is protected by a barrier that keeps toxins in the blood from reaching the brain. However, this barrier can also keep useful medications from reaching the brain. P-glycoprotein (P-gp) is a brain protein that is part of the blood-brain barrier. The level of P-gp is higher in people with epilepsy than in people without epilepsy. These different levels of P-gp may explain why some people have seizures that do not respond well to medications. Researchers want to see if P-gp can affect the response to epilepsy medications.
Epilepsy may also be associated with brain inflammation. Researchers also want to look at the part of the brain affected by epilepsy to see if inflammation is present.

Objectives:

To see if P-gp can affect the response to epilepsy medications.
To see if inflammation is present in the part of the brain affected by epilepsy.

Eligibility:

<TAB>Individuals between 18 and 60 years of age who have temporal lobe epilepsy. We plan to study some patients whose seizures are well controlled by drugs, and some whose seizures are not controlled.
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Healthy volunteers between 18 and 60 years of age.

Design:

This study requires four or five visits to the NIH Clinical Center over the course of a year. The visits will be outpatient visits and will last from 2 t