Epilepsy in autism spectrum disorders

Epilepsy occurs frequently in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). However, the mechanisms responsible for increased seizure susceptibility in ASDs are largely unknown. Clues to neural hyperexcitability in the autistic brain might be derived from disorders in which single gene mutations cause both epilepsy and an autistic phenotype, such as fragile X syndrome. For an expanded treatment of this topic see Jasper's Basic Mechanisms of the Epilepsies, Fourth Edition (Noebels JL, Avoli M, Rogawski MA, Olsen RW, Delgado-Escueta AV, eds) published by Oxford University Press (available on the National Library of Medicine Bookshelf [NCBI] at).