The density of dystopic neurons in the white matter of the gyrus frontalis inferior in epilepsies.

It has been suspected for a long time that developmental disturbances of the brain could be a factor in the causation of epilepsies. The diagnostic term "microdysgenesis" indicates the morphological correlate for this hypothesis. An increase in the number of nerve cells in the white matter belongs to this microdysgenesis. Its diagnosis, judged purely qualitatively, is very uncertain and cannot be clearly be differentiated from normal findings. In this study, the nerve cell density in the white matter of the gyrus frontalis inferior was determined morphometrically. There was a significantly increased cell count in the group with primary generalized epilepsy compared to the control group. However, even in the group with traumatic epilepsy there still a significantly higher cell count than in the control group, although clearly lower than in the group with primary generalized epilepsy. The study supports the hypothesis that disturbed maturation could be an aetiological factor in epilepsy.