Department of Neurology, Columbia University, New York, New York 10025, USA.
Nat Commun. 2012;3:1060. doi: 10.1038/ncomms2056.
The location and trajectory of seizure activity is of great importance, yet our ability to map such activity remains primitive. Recently, the development of multi-electrode arrays for use in humans has provided new levels of temporal and spatial resolution for recording seizures. Here, we show that there is a sharp delineation between areas showing intense, hypersynchronous firing indicative of recruitment to the seizure, and adjacent territories where there is only low-level, unstructured firing. Thus, there is a core territory of recruited neurons and a surrounding 'ictal penumbra'. The defining feature of the 'ictal penumbra' is the contrast between the large amplitude EEG signals and the low-level firing there. Our human recordings bear striking similarities with animal studies of an inhibitory restraint, indicating that they can be readily understood in terms of this mechanism. These findings have important implications for how we localize seizure activity and map its spread.
癫痫活动的位置和轨迹非常重要，但我们对这种活动的定位能力仍然很原始。最近，多电极阵列在人类中的应用为癫痫发作的记录提供了新的时间和空间分辨率。在这里，我们发现，在强烈的、同步性高的放电区域（表明被招募到癫痫发作中）和只有低水平、无结构的放电的相邻区域之间存在明显的分界线。因此，存在一个被招募的神经元核心区域和一个周围的“癫痫半影区”。“癫痫半影区”的一个显著特征是脑电图信号的振幅很大，而那里的放电水平却很低。我们的人类记录与动物抑制性抑制的研究非常相似，这表明可以根据这种机制来理解它们。这些发现对我们如何定位癫痫发作活动和绘制其传播范围具有重要意义。
