[Epilepsy and the functional organization of the autonomic nervous system]

Results of the studies on the state of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) in symptomatic temporal epilepsy (TE) and frontal epilepsy (FE) are presented. It was investigated the functional state of catecholamine system, autonomic background, reaction and ANS supply in response to the physical and psycho-emotional tests according to the clinical data, psychological testing and evaluation of the skin sympathetic response (SSR) as well as EEG parameters (paroxysmal index, slow activity in the background and in response to hyperventilation). The control group included healthy subjects. Comparison groups consisted of patients with panic attacks or with the combination of epilepsy and panic attacks. The disturbance of the self-regulation of catecholamine system and its exhaustion in TE were identified. The authors suggested the concept of the denervation hypersensitivity. According to the SSR, a start of the response to external stimuli always begins from the parasympathetic reaction both in healthy people and in all groups of patients studied. It means that the stable adaptive mechanism in the form of anticipating reaction from the side of the mechanisms stabilizing homeostasis had been formed during the phylogenies. Different patterns of the disturbance of ANS functional state in TE and FE were established. The data obtained indicate that the neocortical motor cortex has a direct relation to the suprasegmental formations which realize the ergotrophic supply of the motor activity.