Ultrastructure of epileptic foci in temporal epilepsy

: An electron microscopy study was conducted on the material of biopsies from the removed epileptic foci localized in the hippocamp and fields 21 and 38 of the temporal cortex of 11 patients with temporal epilepsy. There was the constant presence of so-called dark and altered light neurocytes whose cytoplasm had experienced considerable changes and was saturated with various inclusions. The axons and dendrites of the cells underwent peculiar degeneration. The authors revealed multiple agglutination of synaptic vesicles in the preterminals and synaptic buds, and also dark degeneration of the axonal endings in the absence of Waller's degeneration of axons. Marked changes in the walls of the capillaries were also found.