MAPT and epilepsy: Also, genetic reduction of tau in a mouse model of Dravet syndrome, a severe childhood epilepsy caused by mutations in the human SCN1A gene encoding the voltage-gated sodium channel subunit Nav1.1, was reported to reduce the frequency of spontaneous and febrile seizures and premature mortality, to decrease epileptic interictal spikes in vivo and drug-induced epileptic activity in brain slices ex vivo, and to ameliorate learning and memory deficits (Gheyara et al., 2014).