Jacksonian seizure is associated with a form of epilepsy

Epilepsy

Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by seizures. These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or hypersynchronous neuronal activity in the brain.About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, and nearly two out of every three new cases...

. They involve a progression of the location of the seizure

Seizure

An epileptic seizure, occasionally referred to as a fit, is defined as a transient symptom of "abnormal excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain". The outward effect can be as dramatic as a wild thrashing movement or as mild as a brief loss of awareness...

 in the brain, which leads to a "march" of the motor presentation of symptoms.

Presentation

Epilepsy involves abnormal activity in the brain

Brain

The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals—only a few primitive invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, sea squirts and starfishes do not have one. It is located in the head, usually close to primary sensory apparatus such as vision, hearing,...

 that can lead to neuron

Neuron

A neuron is an electrically excitable cell that processes and transmits information by electrical and chemical signaling. Chemical signaling occurs via synapses, specialized connections with other cells. Neurons connect to each other to form networks. Neurons are the core components of the nervous...

s firing at many times their normal rate. This leads to a kind of electrical "storm" developing in the brain and can lead to temporary impairment to the sensory, motor, and cognitive functions.

Jacksonian seizures are initiated with abnormal electrical activity within the primary motor cortex

Primary motor cortex

The primary motor cortex is a brain region that in humans is located in the posterior portion of the frontal lobe. Itworks in association with pre-motor areas to plan and execute movements. M1 contains large neurons known as Betz cells, which send long axons down the spinal cord to synapse onto...

. They are unique in that they travel through the primary motor cortex in succession, affecting the corresponding muscle

Muscle

Muscle is a contractile tissue of animals and is derived from the mesodermal layer of embryonic germ cells. Muscle cells contain contractile filaments that move past each other and change the size of the cell. They are classified as skeletal, cardiac, or smooth muscles. Their function is to...

s, often beginning with the fingers. This is felt as a tingling sensation. It then affects the hand and moves on to more proximal areas. Symptoms often associated with a Jacksonian seizure are sudden head and eye movements, tingling, numbness, smacking of the lips, and sudden muscle contractions. Most of the time any one of these actions can be seen as normal movements, without being associated with the seizure occurring. They occur at no particular moment and last only briefly.
Additional Information:- They can also start at the feet, same tingling (pins and needles), there is cramping of the foot muscles which, due to the signals from the brain, causes great pain.

Jacksonian seizures are extremely varied and may involve, for example, apparently purposeful movements such as turning the head, eye movements, smacking the lips, mouth movements, drooling, rhythmic muscle contractions in a part of the body, abnormal numbness, tingling, and a crawling sensation over the skin. Jacksonian seizures are a form of epilepsy.

Eponym

These seizures are named after their discoverer, John Hughlings Jackson

John Hughlings Jackson

John Hughlings Jackson, FRS , was an English neurologist.- Biography :He was born at Providence Green, Green Hammerton, near Harrogate, Yorkshire, the youngest son of Samuel Jackson, a yeoman who owned and farmed his land, and the former Sarah Hughlings, the daughter of a Welsh revenue collector...

, an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 neurologist

Neurologist

A neurologist is a physician who specializes in neurology, and is trained to investigate, or diagnose and treat neurological disorders.Neurology is the medical specialty related to the human nervous system. The nervous system encompasses the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. A specialist...

, whose studies led to the discovery of the seizures' initiation point (in the primary motor cortex) in 1863.