Elevated extracellular levels of glutamate, aspartate and gamma-aminobutyric acid within the intraoperative, spontaneously epileptiform human hippocampus.

We report preliminary results from four patients subjected to hippocampal electrocorticography and microdialysis during temporal lobe epilepsy surgery. In two cases, spontaneously vigorous hippocampal epileptiform activity (EA) was identified; basal dialysate levels for hippocampal glutamate, aspartate, and gamma-aminobutyric acid ranged from approximately 23- to 84-fold, 19- to 33-fold and 10- to 34-fold higher, respectively, compared to the two cases of minimal hippocampal EA. These findings represent the first intraoperative evidence of elevated extracellular levels of neuroactive amino acids within the spontaneously epileptiform human hippocampus.