[The EEG of the human hippocampus--summary and discussion of results published till now on patients with primary neurologic diseases].
Hippocampal theta-activity in several animals (rodents, cat, dog) is often described and well established. But there is an exception in primate animals: the so-called "rhythmic slow activity" seen so often in infraprimates is here essentially lacking. The aim of this paper is to answer the question whether or not there are EEG patterns which are characteristic and specific for the human hippocampal formation under pathophysiological conditions. This question is particularly interesting in view of the hypothesis that the emotional theta-waves in man described by several authors may originate in the hippocampus or other limbic structures. Out of the overwhelming literature about deep electroencephalography in man, some representative papers dealing with the EEG of the hippocampal formation in patients with neurological disorders were compiled. The different results may be summarized as follows: 1. there was a predominance of slow irregular theta or delta-activity, mostly superimposed by fast frequencies, 2. spontaneous rhythmic slow activity in the strict sense was essentially lacking, 3. even under conditions eliciting rhythmic slow activity in animals, rhythmic theta activity was not found in patients. Problems of comparability to results found in animals and possible reasons for the differences to infraprimates are discussed: --limitation of the study of the human brain by ethical considerations and therefore exploration only of (mostly epileptic) patients with potentially pathologic hippocampal EEG activity not comparable to normal animals.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
D004569:Electroencephalography; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans
Das EEG des menschlichen Hippokampus--eine Zusammenfassung und Diskussion bisher veröffentlichter Ergebnisse bei Patienten mit neurologischen Grunderkrankungen.