title: Spatiotemporal dynamics of epileptiform propagations: imaging of human brain slices.
abstract: Seizure activities often originate from a localized region of the cerebral cortex and spread across large areas of the brain. The properties of these spreading abnormal discharges may account for clinical phenotypes in epilepsy patients, although the manner of their propagation and the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. In the present study we performed flavoprotein fluorescence imaging of cortical brain slices surgically resected from patients with partial epilepsy caused by various symptomatic lesions. Elicited neural activities in the epileptogenic tissue spread horizontally over the cortex momentarily, but those in control tissue taken from patients with brain tumors who had no history of epilepsy demonstrated only localized responses. Characteristically, the epileptiform propagation comprised early and late phases. When the stimulus intensity was changed gradually, the early phase showed an all-or-none behavior, whereas the late phase showed a gradual increase in the response. Moreover, the two phases were propagated through different cortical layers, suggesting that they are derived from distinct neural circuits. Morphological investigation revealed the presence of hypertrophic neurons and loss of dendritic spines, which might participate in the aberrant activities observed by flavoprotein fluorescence imaging. These findings indicate that synchronized activities of the early phase may play a key role in spreading abnormal discharges in human cortical epilepsies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Brain Research Institute, University of Niigata, Chuo-ku, Niigata, Japan. kitaura@bri.niigata-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kitaura
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hiraishi
authors.forename: Hiroatsu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Murakami
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Masuda
authors.forename: Masafumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fukuda
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oishi
authors.forename: Masae
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ryufuku
authors.forename: Yong-Juan
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Shigeki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kameyama
authors.forename: Yukihiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fujii
authors.forename: Katsuei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shibuki
authors.forename: Akiyoshi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kakita
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005420:Flavoproteins / Q000378:metabolism; D005453:Fluorescence; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D005420:Flavoproteins