Found this online today, thought you might be interested:

http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/heal...out523275.html

First Dog Epilepsy Gene Identified
By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Jan. 6 (HealthDayNews) -- Researchers have discovered a gene
that may be responsible for a rare form of epilepsy in dogs.

While numerous genes associated with human epilepsy have already been
found, this is the first gene associated with canine epilepsy to be
discovered.

"Five to 10 percent of dogs have epilepsy compared to about 1 percent of
humans," said one of the study's authors, Dr. Berge Minassian, a
neurologist and scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto,
Canada.

"We've found the first dog epilepsy gene and may have explained part of
the reason for the high numbers of epilepsy in dogs," he said.

Results of the study appear in the Jan. 7 issue of the journal Science.

Minassian said he was originally studying the human form of this type of
epilepsy, known as Lafora disease. Children appear normal until their
teenage years when they begin to have very serious seizures. Minassian
said the seizures progress and current medications are ineffective against
this form of epilepsy. Eventually, Lafora disease kills those affected by
it.

An important step in developing effective treatments for human disease is
finding an effective animal model of the disease to test potential
therapies. One possibility was dogs, because Minassian said he knew they
suffered from an almost identical form of epilepsy called autosomal
recessive progressive myoclonic epilepsy (PME).

The dogs most commonly affected by this form are purebred dogs, such as
basset hounds, miniature and standard poodles, pointers, corgis, beagles
and daschunds, according to the study.

People and dogs with this form of epilepsy can have seizures provoked by
light. Something as simple as a hand passing over your eyes can cause
enough change in lighting to provoke a seizure, said Minassian.

In collaboration with veterinary neurologists in England, researchers at
the Hospital for Sick Children compared the genes known to be associated
with Lafora to the same genes in affected dogs. They found that one of the
canine genes was, in fact, associated with epilepsy.

However, in humans, the genes associated with epilepsy spontaneously
mutate, whereas in dogs, the gene repeats itself over and over again until
it stops working, and epilepsy results.

Now that the gene has been isolated, Minassian and his colleagues are
working on developing a commercially available test to identify the gene
so dog breeders can test their dogs to see if they carry the gene. With
controlled breeding practices, it could be possible to eliminate this form
of canine epilepsy from purebred dogs, said Minassian.

Dennis O'Brien, a professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine at the
University of Missouri, said, "This study will go a long way to making
dogs lives better. It will give dog breeders the tools necessary to breed
better dogs."

And, that will improve the lives of pet owners, because having a dog that
has seizures can be very stressful since the disease is so unpredictable
and seizures often occur at night, said O'Brien.

O'Brien said that while there is no effective treatment for this type of
epilepsy in dogs, there are other treatable forms of the disease. "We can
control about 70 percent of epilepsy in dogs," he said.

Veterinarians use the same medicines that control epilepsy in humans to
control the disorder in dogs, though some of the newer medications are too
expensive for most pet owners, said O'Brien.

More information

To learn more about canine epilepsy, visit the Australian Shepherd Club of
America.

--

What fresh hell is this?
--- Dorothy Parker

Natalie Rigertas said in rec.pets.dogs.breeds:

Found this online today, thought you might be interested:

http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/heal...scout/2005/01/
06/hscout523275.html

Thanks Natalie. It's an interesting article and has been making
the rounds of the epilepsy lists today.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.