Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Nat Neurosci. 2011 May;14(5):635-41. doi: 10.1038/nn.2782. Epub 2011 Mar 27.
Epileptic seizures are traditionally characterized as the ultimate expression of monolithic, hypersynchronous neuronal activity arising from unbalanced runaway excitation. Here we report the first examination of spike train patterns in large ensembles of single neurons during seizures in persons with epilepsy. Contrary to the traditional view, neuronal spiking activity during seizure initiation and spread was highly heterogeneous, not hypersynchronous, suggesting complex interactions among different neuronal groups even at the spatial scale of small cortical patches. In contrast to earlier stages, seizure termination is a nearly homogenous phenomenon followed by an almost complete cessation of spiking across recorded neuronal ensembles. Notably, even neurons outside the region of seizure onset showed significant changes in activity minutes before the seizure. These findings suggest a revision of current thinking about seizure mechanisms and point to the possibility of seizure prevention based on spiking activity in neocortical neurons.
癫痫发作传统上被认为是源自失衡的失控兴奋的单一、超同步神经元活动的最终表现。在这里，我们报告了在癫痫患者癫痫发作期间对大量单个神经元集合中的尖峰列车模式的首次检查。与传统观点相反，在发作起始和传播期间，神经元的尖峰活动高度异质，而不是超同步，这表明即使在小皮质斑块的空间尺度上，不同神经元群体之间也存在复杂的相互作用。与早期阶段相反，发作终止是一种几乎同质的现象，随后是记录的神经元集合中几乎完全停止尖峰活动。值得注意的是，即使在发作起始区域之外的神经元，在发作前几分钟也表现出明显的活动变化。这些发现表明有必要修正当前关于发作机制的思维方式，并指出基于新皮层神经元的尖峰活动预防发作的可能性。
