IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v7y2016i1d10.1038_ncomms11098.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The ictal wavefront is the spatiotemporal source of discharges during spontaneous human seizures

Author

Listed:
  • Elliot H. Smith

    (Columbia University Medical Center)

  • Jyun-you Liou

    (Columbia University)

  • Tyler S. Davis

    (University of Utah)

  • Edward M. Merricks

    (Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University)

  • Spencer S. Kellis

    (California Institute of Technology)

  • Shennan A. Weiss

    (UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine)

  • Bradley Greger

    (School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, Arizona State University)

  • Paul A. House

    (University of Utah)

  • Guy M. McKhann II

    (Columbia University Medical Center)

  • Robert R. Goodman

    (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai)

  • Ronald G. Emerson

    (Weill Cornell Medical College)

  • Lisa M. Bateman

    (Columbia University Medical Center)

  • Andrew J. Trevelyan

    (Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University)

  • Catherine A. Schevon

    (Columbia University Medical Center)

Abstract

The extensive distribution and simultaneous termination of seizures across cortical areas has led to the hypothesis that seizures are caused by large-scale coordinated networks spanning these areas. This view, however, is difficult to reconcile with most proposed mechanisms of seizure spread and termination, which operate on a cellular scale. We hypothesize that seizures evolve into self-organized structures wherein a small seizing territory projects high-intensity electrical signals over a broad cortical area. Here we investigate human seizures on both small and large electrophysiological scales. We show that the migrating edge of the seizing territory is the source of travelling waves of synaptic activity into adjacent cortical areas. As the seizure progresses, slow dynamics in induced activity from these waves indicate a weakening and eventual failure of their source. These observations support a parsimonious theory for how large-scale evolution and termination of seizures are driven from a small, migrating cortical area.

Suggested Citation

  • Elliot H. Smith & Jyun-you Liou & Tyler S. Davis & Edward M. Merricks & Spencer S. Kellis & Shennan A. Weiss & Bradley Greger & Paul A. House & Guy M. McKhann II & Robert R. Goodman & Ronald G. Emerso, 2016. "The ictal wavefront is the spatiotemporal source of discharges during spontaneous human seizures," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-12, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms11098
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11098
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms11098
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms11098?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. John-Sebastian Mueller & Fabio C. Tescarollo & Trong Huynh & Daniel A. Brenner & Daniel J. Valdivia & Kanyin Olagbegi & Sahana Sangappa & Spencer C. Chen & Hai Sun, 2023. "Ictogenesis proceeds through discrete phases in hippocampal CA1 seizures in mice," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-17, December.
    2. Anton V Chizhov & Aleksei E Sanin, 2020. "A simple model of epileptic seizure propagation: Potassium diffusion versus axo-dendritic spread," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(4), pages 1-21, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms11098. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.