Epileptic syndromes are one of the most frequent neurological diseases. The economic, social, and personal costs of this disorder underscores the need for more research into new approaches for the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of epilepsy and its consequences. Optimally, research on human epilepsy should be carried out on humans with epilepsy, but this approach is not always possible or practical due to obvious ethical, statistical, and financial constraints. Consequently, despite tremendous increase in the opportunities for noninvasive research on the human brain, animal models are essential to epilepsy research. This article provides an update on the large variety of animal models available to neuroscientists interested in carrying out research on epilepsy. We present the usefulness of these models in (i) understanding normal and pathologic neural mechanisms, (ii) testing new diagnostic and (iii) therapeutic methods and (iv) finding new antiepileptic strategies. Several reasons are pointed out why animal models might be used and what specifically can and should be adressed by each of them.
Keywords: epilepsy, epileptogenesis, animal models