Focal epileptic brain is characterized by a region of pathological tissue seizure onset zone (SOZ) - the pathologic tissue generating seizures. During the interictal period (nonseizure) the SOZ is characterized by epileptiform activity - interictal spikes & high-frequency oscillations (HFO). The SOZ also exhibits hyper-synchrony and functional disconnection from the surrounding areas. Recent studies have described the synchrony inside the SOZ and surrounding tissue for just small sets of patients (2-4) and without any distinction in behavioral states. Wake and sleep cycles can, however, have a significant influence on SOZ activity. Here we show the results of connectivity analysis in three fundamental areas of the epileptic brain - inside SOZ, outside SOZ and bridging areas in 7 patients during wake and sleep. We observed increased synchrony inside SOZ and decreased synchrony on its edges (bridging areas) in specific frequency bands. We also detected significant differences of synchrony levels between wake and sleep periods in HFO frequencies. Our results provide additional insight into the properties of SOZ connectivity. Knowledge of these principles may prove useful for SOZ localization and understanding epileptic brain function in general.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/EMBC.2015.7318825DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

epileptic brain
16
wake sleep
16
inside soz
12
soz
10
synchrony inside
8
bridging areas
8
connectivity epileptic
4
brain
4
brain regions
4
wake
4

Similar Publications

Epilepsy is a network disorder, involving neural circuits at both the micro- and macroscale. While local excitatory-inhibitory imbalances are recognized as a hallmark at the microscale, the dynamic role of distinct neuron types during seizures remain poorly understood. At the macroscale, interactions between key nodes within the epileptic network, such as the central median thalamic nucleus (CMT), are critical to the, hippocampal epileptic process.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Dravet syndrome (DS) is a developmental and epileptic encephalopathy (DEE) that begins in the first year of life. While most cases of DS are caused by variants in SCN1A, variants in SCN1B, encoding voltage-gated sodium channel β1 subunits, are also linked to DS or to the more severe early infantile DEE. Both disorders fall under the OMIM term DEE52.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) causes pervasive and progressive memory impairments, yet the specific circuit changes that drive these deficits remain unclear. To investigate how hippocampal-entorhinal dysfunction contributes to progressive memory deficits in epilepsy, we performed simultaneous in vivo electrophysiology in the hippocampus (HPC) and medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) of control and epileptic mice 3 or 8 weeks after pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus (Pilo-SE). We found that HPC synchronization deficits (including reduced theta power, coherence, and altered interneuron spike timing) emerged within 3 weeks of Pilo-SE, aligning with early-onset, relatively subtle memory deficits.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Circulating microRNAs as Biomarkers of Various Forms of Epilepsy.

Med Sci (Basel)

January 2025

Department of Medical Genetics, Clinical Neurophysiology of Postgraduate Education, V.F. Voyno-Yasenetsky Krasnoyarsk State Medical University, Russian National Research, Krasnoyarsk 660022, Russia.

: Epilepsy is a group of disorders characterized by a cluster of clinical and EEG signs leading to the formation of abnormal synchronous excitation of neurons in the brain. It is one of the most common neurological disorders worldwide; and is characterized by aberrant expression patterns; both at the level of matrix transcripts and at the level of regulatory RNA sequences. Aberrant expression of a number of microRNAs can mark a particular epileptic syndrome; which will improve the quality of differential diagnosis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cause of Death Analysis in a 9½-Year-Old with COVID-19 and Dravet Syndrome.

Pathophysiology

January 2025

Division of Anatomical Pathology, Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Royal University Hospital, 103 Hospital Drive, Saskatoon, SK S7N 0W8, Canada.

: Cause of death analysis is fundamental to forensic pathology. We present the case of a 9½-year-old girl with a genetically confirmed diagnosis of Dravet syndrome who died in her sleep with no evidence of motor seizure. She also had a lifelong history of recurrent pneumonias and, along with her family, had tested positive for COVID-19 10 days before death.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!