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Pharmacoresistance in Epilepsy pp 291–306Cite as

Effects of Transcranial Focal Electrical Stimulation via Concentric Ring Electrodes on Seizure Activity

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Abstract

Epilepsy affects approximately one percent of the planets population. There does not appear to be any single therapy that works for all types of epilepsy. As an alternative we have been developing a noninvasive, or minimally invasive, transcranial focal electrical stimulation (TFS) based on the novel tripolar concentric ring electrode (TCRE). By applying biphasic, charge balanced, constant current, pulses noninvasively through the TCRE we have realized acute seizure attenuation in rats. We found that the TFS significantly reduced penicillin-induced myoclonic jerks. There was also a significant improvement in survival for the TFS-treated animals compared to those without application of TFS due to the pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus (SE). Long-lasting control of SE, without antiepileptic drugs, provided positive proof that TFS had antiseizure effects. We also found that TFS via TCREs significantly reduced Pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)-induced hypersynchrony at the beta and gamma frequencies as quantified from cross channel coherence performed on the electroencephalograms (EEGs) recorded from the TCREs. Further, we developed a noninvasive automated seizure control system utilizing TFS and EEG signals from the TCREs. The automatically triggered TFS significantly reduced the power of the EEG. We have also performed safety testing, applying TFS once or multiple times. The histological analysis on scalp, cortex, and hippocampal areas suggests there is no significant difference between the controls and the TFS-treated samples. In conclusion we have found TFS to be effective at attenuating acute seizures from three different rat models and safe. In the future we need to test if TFS is effective in models of pharmacoresistant epilepsy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering, Rhode Island University, 4 East Alumni Ave., Kingston, RI, 02881, USA

    Walter G. Besio

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  1. Walter G. Besio
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Correspondence to Walter G. Besio .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Pharmacobiology Department, Center for Research and Advanced Studies, Av. Instituto Politécnico Nacional 2508, Mexico City, 07360, Mexico

    Luisa Rocha

  2. , Disciplina de Neurologia Experimental, UNIFESP/EPM, Rua Botucatu 740, São Paulo, 04023-900, Brazil

    Esper A. Cavalheiro

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Besio, W.G. (2013). Effects of Transcranial Focal Electrical Stimulation via Concentric Ring Electrodes on Seizure Activity. In: Rocha, L., Cavalheiro, E. (eds) Pharmacoresistance in Epilepsy. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6464-8_19

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