RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Enhanced Synchrony in Epileptiform Activity? Local versus Distant Phase Synchronization in Generalized Seizures
JF The Journal of Neuroscience
JO J. Neurosci.
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP 8077
OP 8084
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1046-05.2005
VO 25
IS 35
A1 Luis Garcia Dominguez,
A1 Richard A. Wennberg
A1 William Gaetz
A1 Douglas Cheyne
A1 O. Carter Snead III
A1 Jose Luis Perez Velazquez
YR 2005
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/25/35/8077.abstract
AB Synchronization is a fundamental characteristic of complex systems and a basic mechanism of self-organization. A traditional, accepted perspective on epileptiform activity holds that hypersynchrony covering large brain regions is a hallmark of generalized seizures. However, a few recent reports have described substantial fluctuations in synchrony before and during ictal events, thus raising questions as to the widespread synchronization notion. In this study, we used magnetoencephalographic recordings from epileptic patients with generalized seizures and normal control subjects to address the extent of the phase synchronization (phase locking) in local (neighboring) and distant cortical areas and to explore the ongoing temporal dynamics for particular ranges of frequencies at which synchrony occurs, during interictal and ictal activity. Synchronization patterns were found to differ somewhat depending on the epileptic syndrome, with primary generalized absence seizures displaying more long-range synchrony in all frequency bands studied (3–55 Hz) than generalized tonic motor seizures of secondary (symptomatic) generalized epilepsy or frontal lobe epilepsy. However, all seizures were characterized by enhanced local synchrony compared with distant synchrony. There were fluctuations in the synchrony between specific cortical areas that varied from seizure to seizure in the same patient, but in most of the seizures studied, regardless of semiology, there was a constant pattern in the dynamics of synchronization, indicating that seizures proceed by a recruitment of neighboring neuronal networks. Together, these data indicate that the concept of widespread “hypersynchronous” activity during generalized seizures may be misleading and valid only for very specific neuronal ensembles and circumstances.