Granule cell dispersion is correlated with early epileptic events in human temporal lobe epilepsy

Granule cell dispersion (GCD) into the dentate gyrus (DG) molecular layer was observed in hippocampal specimens in 10 out of 22 cases of human non-lesional temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and was associated with hippocampal sclerosis (HS). The presence of GCD was significantly linked to events of epileptic nature arising during the first 4 years of life but not with the durations of epilepsy, nor the number of seizures. Dispersion could be induced by seizure-linked structural plasticity occurring during a specific early permissive period.