title: Unification of neuronal spikes, seizures, and spreading depression.
abstract: The pathological phenomena of seizures and spreading depression have long been considered separate physiological events in the brain. By incorporating conservation of particles and charge, and accounting for the energy required to restore ionic gradients, we extend the classic Hodgkin-Huxley formalism to uncover a unification of neuronal membrane dynamics. By examining the dynamics as a function of potassium and oxygen, we now account for a wide range of neuronal activities, from spikes to seizures, spreading depression (whether high potassium or hypoxia induced), mixed seizure and spreading depression states, and the terminal anoxic "wave of death." Such a unified framework demonstrates that all of these dynamics lie along a continuum of the repertoire of the neuron membrane. Our results demonstrate that unified frameworks for neuronal dynamics are feasible, can be achieved using existing biological structures and universal physical conservation principles, and may be of substantial importance in enabling our understanding of brain activity and in the control of pathological states.
authors.affiliation: Center for Neural Engineering, Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, and.
authors.forename: Yina
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8715-5715
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33620, and Mathematical Biosciences Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210.
authors.forename: Ghanim
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ullah
authors.affiliation: Center for Neural Engineering, Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, and Departments of Neurosurgery and Physics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, Mathematical Biosciences Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210 sschiff@psu.edu.
authors.forename: Steven J
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2623-3614
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Schiff
mesh_terms: D013181:Cortical Spreading Depression / Q000502:physiology*; D008959:Models, Neurological; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D012640:Seizures / Q000503:physiopathology*
keywords: ion concentrations; oxygen; seizures; spikes; spreading depression; volume