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How Can Computer Modelling Help in Understanding the Dynamics of Absence Epilepsy?

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Multiscale Models of Brain Disorders

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Cognitive and Neural Systems ((SSCNS,volume 13))

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Abstract

An overview of the pathophysiology of absence seizures is given, focusing on computational modelling where recent neurophysiological experimental evidence is incorporated. The main question addressed is what is the dynamical process by which the same brain can produce sustained bursts of synchronous spike-and-wave discharges (SWDs) and normal, largely desynchronized brain activity, i.e. to display bistability. This generic concept, tested on an updated neural mass computational model of absence seizures, predicts certain properties of the probability distributions of inter-ictal intervals and of the durations of ictal events. A critical analysis of the distributions predicted by the model and those found in reality led to adjustments of the model with respect to the control of the duration of ictal events. Another prediction derived from the bistable dynamics, the possibility of aborting absence seizures by means of counter-controlled electrical stimulation, is also discussed in the light of current experimental studies. Finally the most recent update of the model was carried out to account for the particular properties of the cortical “driver” of SWDs, and the underlying putative role of the persistent Na+ current of cortical neurons in this process.

What I cannot create, I do not understand

Richard Feynman

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Physics, Institute of Experimental Physics, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland

    Piotr Suffczynski

  2. Foundation Epilepsy Institute in The Netherlands (SEIN), Heemstede, The Netherlands

    Stiliyan Kalitzin

  3. Image Sciences Institute, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Stiliyan Kalitzin

  4. Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, Center of Neuroscience, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Fernando H. Lopes da Silva

  5. Department of Bioengineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon Technical University, Lisbon, Portugal

    Fernando H. Lopes da Silva

Authors
  1. Piotr Suffczynski
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  2. Stiliyan Kalitzin
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  3. Fernando H. Lopes da Silva
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Piotr Suffczynski .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Computer Science, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK

    Vassilis Cutsuridis

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Suffczynski, P., Kalitzin, S., Lopes da Silva, F.H. (2019). How Can Computer Modelling Help in Understanding the Dynamics of Absence Epilepsy?. In: Cutsuridis, V. (eds) Multiscale Models of Brain Disorders. Springer Series in Cognitive and Neural Systems, vol 13. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18830-6_16

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