The best research I can find in humans is that it is a multi-factored problem. One of the elements is dominant (spike) and one is recessive (damping). There are probably many others that control expression as well. The more I study, the less I feel like we really understand this disorder.
I looked through the epilepsy research posts and the following is from 12/14/09
"In light of the recent discussion on the Wiscoy forum, I asked Liz what the researchers have learned about epilepsy inheritance. So this is “from the horses mouth”. The researchers have found NO evidence that the mode of inheritance is dominant. They have found patterns that indicate inheritance is either recessive or possibly polygenetic.
Liz also said there is more than one form of epilepsy. The genes would be different, plus the seizures themselves would appear differently."
