The Serum Concentration Of B Vitamins And The Correlation To Epilepsy

Backgroud:Epilepsy, which has a high incidence in the first year after birth, is a common chronic neurological disorder in childhood. The main physiological disorder is abnormally and excessively asynchronous discharge of neurons in the brain. The clinical manifestations include disorders of consciousness, movement, sensory and plant(mental) nerve. Epidemiological investigations showed that the prevalence of epilepsy was about3%o-6%o. There are about50,000,000people with epilepsy around the world. The incidence of epilepsy has a negative relationship with the economy development. The prevalence of epilepsy is at the international average level in China. But there is a higher incidence in children than that in the adult. The types of epilepsy include idiopathic, symptomatic and cryptogenic epilepsy according to the etiology. The pathogenesis of epilepsy is extremely complex and currently uncertain. B Vitamins, coenzymes for many bio-enzymes, participate in synthesis and metabolism, especially for the synthesis and release of neurotransmitters and neuromodulators. So B Vitamins may take part in the pathogenesis and progress of epilepsy. Antiepileptic drugs(AEDs) are the mostly useful treatment for epilepsy. There are no permanent AEDs curing epilepsy thoroughly without side effects. Epilepsy not only endangers the health of children, but also increases the burden on the family and society. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the etiology and pathogenesis of epilepsy and to search the new medications. Objective:To investigate the correlation of B vitamins (vitamin B1, vitamin B6, vitamin B12) in the serum and the incidence of epilepsy.Methods:We recruited104newly-diagnosed children with epilepsy(without receiving AEDs) as experimental group, and50healthy children as control group. Serum concentration of B vitamins (vitamin B1, vitamin B6, vitamin B12) in both cohorts was detected by LK3000V vitamin detector. Then we compared the result.Results:The concentration of vitamin B1and B12was higher in epileptic group than that in control group. But there was no significant difference (P>0.05). The concentration of vitamin B6in epileptic group was significantly lower than that in control group (P<0.05). And the concentration of vitamin B6in the West syndrome was lower than that in other types of epilepsy(P<0.05).Conclusions:Lower serum concentration of vitamin B6may increase the risk of epilepsy.