APA Dictionary of Psychology

a type of neurological disorder in which recurrent seizures spontaneously arise in areas of the limbic system. Recent research suggests that altered connectivities between hippocampal granule cells and pyramidal cells—as mediated by neurotrophins and their receptors—play a crucial role in the development of limbic epilepsy by potentially changing the balance of excitation and inhibition in the hippocampus and amygdala, which are essential to memory and emotion. Acetylcholine and other amino acid neurotransmitters have also been implicated in the etiology of limbic epilepsy, as have early life stressors, such as maternal separation. Additionally, febrile seizures may contribute to the generation of subsequent limbic epilepsy by increasing hippocampal excitability. Also called medial temporal lobe epilepsy; mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.