Time-variant Epileptic Brain Functional Connectivity of Focal and Generalized Seizure in Chronic Temporal Lobe Epilepsy Rat

Seizure types and characteristics may vary with time in a patient with distinct mechanisms underlying the propagation of ictal activity. Similarly, we found that both focal and generalized seizures coexist in some pilocarpine-induced chronic temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) rats. In different seizure patterns, mapping complex networks and analyzing epileptic characteristics involved in seizure propagation are likely to reflect seizure propagation mechanisms, and indicate the establishment of stimulation strategy for epilepsy treatment, especially on the selection of stimulation targets. In our study, we used Granger causality method to track the time-variant epileptic brain functional connectivity in focal and generalized seizures from multi-site local field potentials (LFPs). Results showed that these two major types of seizures had different propagation patterns during ictal period. When comparing them, generalized seizures involved in a network with more complex relationships and spread to more extensive brain regions than in local seizures at mid-ictal stage. Moreover, we observed that focal seizures had a focused causal hub with strong interactions, while generalized seizures had relative distributed causal hubs to drive the development of seizure during seizure-onset stage. These findings suggest that stimulation strategy might need to be adapted to different seizure types thus allowing for retuning abnormal epileptic brain network and obtaining better treatment effect on seizure suppression.