Sleep Deprivation Exacerbates Seizures and Diminishes GABAergic Tonic Inhibition

Patients with epilepsy report that sleep deprivation is a common trigger for breakthrough seizures. The basic mechanism of this phenomenon is unknown. In the Kv1.1 −/− mouse model of epilepsy, daily sleep deprivation indeed exacerbated seizures though these effects were lost after the third day. Sleep deprivation also accelerated mortality in ~ 52% of Kv1.1 −/− mice, not observed in controls. Voltage‐clamp experiments on the day after recovery from sleep deprivation showed reductions in GABAergic tonic inhibition in dentate granule cells in epileptic Kv1.1 −/− mice. Our results suggest that sleep deprivation is detrimental to seizures and survival, possibly due to reductions in GABAergic tonic inhibition. ANN NEUROL 2021;90:840–844