[Newer studies on the strong link between sleep and epilepsy: Epilepsy as an epileptic transformation of sleep...

Aims - Overview of the new data about the strong link of sleep and epilepsy and conjoining cognitive impairment. Methods - Search for relevant references and summary of our own research activity on the topic. Results - Strong interrealtionship exists between epilepsy and plastic brain functions (memory processing and synaptic homeostasis) and the working modes of NREM sleep. In the most frequent childhood and adult epilepsy networks responsible for plastic functions can be derailed to an epileptic level of excitability, and suffer a transitory or permanent epileptic transformation. Exampling on the three big epilepsies: absence epilepsy; medial temporal lobe epilepsy; and childhood idiopathic focal age dependent epilepsy spectrum we demonstrate the most important features of this epileptic transformation. The association of cognitive impairment to certain sleep dependent epilepsies gains explanation by the epilepsy caused interference with slow wave decline (ICFE) and memory consolidation (MTLE) during NREM sleep. This paper serves also to introduce the concept of sleep dependent system epilepsies. Conclusions - We provide evidences about shared mechanisms among sleep related epilepsies being the derailment of sleep plastic funcions toward exaggerated excitability determined by the inherent possibilities of the signal transduction properties.