Biochemical studies on the epileptic cerebral cortex

Within the range of our investigations the most important biochemical characteristics in the brain of idiopathic epileptic patients seem to be defect in the production of and the attendant decrease in free amino acids of the brain. On account of these phenomena there seem to occur the acceleration of the ChE activity and a poor utilization of glucose. Of the free amino acids in the brain the combined amount of glutamic acid, glutamine and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) will occupy the major portion of the total free amino acids found in brain, and thus diminution in the contents of glutamic acid and GABA in the brain of idopathic epileptic patients has quite an important meaning. At the present stage it is not yet possible to give any definitive answer to the question why such decrease occurs but it is believed that the most urgent problem facing us today is the amino acid metabolism that is associated with glutamic acid and the comparative studies of the amino acid metabolism in the epileptic brain to that in the non-epileptic brain are required. The fact that γ-amino-β-hydroxybutyric acid (GABOB), the substance that suppresses the central excitation, is decreased seems to indicate biochemically the existence of a defect in the processes of excitation in the brain of idiopathic epleptic patients.