Hereditary Epilepsy  occurs in many breeds, and represents a diverse group of recurring seizure conditions. There are no tests available to diagnose hereditary epilepsy. When diagnosing epilepsy, other non-hereditary seizure disorders must be ruled out.

The onset of hereditary epilepsy can be neonatal, juvenile, or adult, although most dogs have their first seizure sometime after their first birthday. While most hereditary epilepsies cause recurring seizure episodes throughout life, some can cause only one or two seizures, and never occur again. Hereditary epilepsy can be generalized (grand-mal), or localized (petit-mal) causing only staring, "fly-biting", or "tics". Many dogs have only single seizures at a time. Others can cluster seizure, or have status epilepticus.

Epileptic dogs in a family tend to have similar ages of onset, types of seizures (single or clustering), progression, and response to anticonvulsant medications. These together are considered the phenotype (what you observe) of the epilepsy. It is believed that all dogs in a breed with the same phenotype have epilepsy due to the same genetic cause. In some breeds, affected dogs with different phenotypes may represent two different genetic causes, or the same genetic defect with other unknown (genetic or environmental) modifying factors. Drs. Anita Oberbauer and Thomas Famula at the University of California at Davis have found an epilepsy heritability of 77% in the Belgian Tervuren. Their research suggests that while a simple Mendelian single-gene mode of inheritance is not likely; there appears to be a single major epilepsy susceptibility gene at work in this breed. The high number of cross-bred dogs with epilepsy suggests that dominant or complex modes of inheritance are also possible.

Hereditary Genetics provides the rapid quarterly publication of articles in all areas related to Hereditary Genetics, genetics Disorders, mutation, cancer genetics. Hereditary Genetics welcomes the submission of manuscripts in the field of gene sequencing. Genetic syndrome, chromosomal abnormalities that meet the general criteria of significance and scientific excellence. Papers will be published approximately one month after acceptance.

Submit manuscript at https://www.longdom.org/submissions/hereditary-genetics-current-research.html