5-HT1A receptor binding and intracerebral activity in temporal lobe epilepsy: an [18F]MPPF-PET study

The aim of our study was to assess abnormalities in 5-hydroxytryptamine-1A (5-HT1A) receptor density in patients suffering from refractory temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Experimental data in animals show that 5-HT1A receptors are predominantly located in limbic areas, and that serotonin, via these receptors, mediates an antiepileptic and anticonvulsant effect. In TLE patients, we quantified 5-HT1A receptor density in epileptogenic and non-epileptogenic areas, as defined by intracranial recordings with stereo-electroencephalography (SEEG). Nine TLE patients and 53 control subjects were studied by PET using a 5-HT1A receptor antagonist ([18F]MPPF). Anatomical regions of interest (ROIs) were drawn on patient and control MRIs co-registered with PET. PET data were quantified using a simplified model to assess binding potential (BP) values in each ROI, with cerebellum as reference. For each patient, a normalized percentage BP change was calculated as the relative variation of BP in each ROI compared with the corresponding ROI in control subjects. In patients, ROIs explored by SEEG were categorized according to their degree of epileptic activity (ictal onset, ictal spreading, interictal spikes, no epileptic activity) and according to their lesional aspect and volume (lesional with volume loss, lesional without volume loss, non-lesional). Compared with control values, the binding to 5-HT1A receptors in TLE patients was decreased in the epileptogenic temporal lobe. BP decrease was significantly greater in: (i) regions involved in the seizure onset than regions where only interictal paroxysms or no epileptic activity was recorded; and (ii) regions where the discharge propagated than regions where only interictal paroxysms or no epileptic activity was recorded. BP decrease was shown to be significantly influenced by the existence of a lesion on MRI. However, in the group of ROIs with normal quantitative and qualitative MRI aspect, BP decrease remained strongly correlated to the degree of epileptic activity. This study shows that in vivo availability of 5-HT1A receptors is decreased in epileptic patients compared with normal subjects. This decrease is highly correlated to the degree of epileptogenicity of cortical areas explored by intracerebral recordings, and does not reflect only pathological changes or neuronal loss in the epileptic focus.