Neurophysiological remarks: stereotaxy of epilepsy

Certain points in the different reports relating to the stereotaxy of epilepsy are discussed. The accent is first put on the current superiority of the techniques of stereotaxy used in Man with respect to those currently used in the animal, and especially the Monkey. In order to appreciate the nature of an epileptogenic lesion in Man, it is then discussed what information one can expect to obtain, given the present state of the techniques, from the data furnished by the positron camera as well as by the enzymatic dosages made on micro samples made in vivo by stereotaxic means. Based on different examples, the limits of the extrapolation to Man of the different experimental models of epilepsy are considered: particular attention is given to the data furnished by the kindling phenomenon an by status epilepticus obtained by intra-amygdaloid injection of kainic acid. These models allow us to appreciate the differences in symptomatology characterizing epilepsy of amygdaloid origin according to the species. They incite us to be careful in transposing to Man the data found in the animal, if one does not consider the process at the origin of the epileptic discharge on the one hand, and of the species studied on the other.