title: Optogenetic induced epileptiform activity in a model human cortex.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cortical stimulation plays an important role in the study of epileptic seizures. We present a numerical simulation of stimulation using optogenetic channels expressed by excitatory cells in a mean field model of the human cortex.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Depolarising excitatory cells in a patch of model cortex using Channelrhodpsin-2 (ChR2) ion channels, we are able to hyper-excite a normally functioning cortex and mimic seizure activity. The temporal characteristics of optogenetic channels, and the ability to control the frequency of synchronous activity using these properties are also demonstrated.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Optogenetics is a powerful stimulation technique with high spatial, temporal and cell-type specificity, and would be invaluable in studying seizures and other brain disorders and functions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 94720 CA USA.
authors.forename: Prashanth
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Selvaraj
authors.affiliation: Waikato Clinical School, University of Auckland, Hamilton, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Jamie W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Sleigh
authors.affiliation: Departments of Neurology and Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco, 94143 CA USA.
authors.forename: Heidi E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Kirsch
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 94720 CA USA ; Center for Neural Engineering and Prosthesis, University of California, Berkeley, 94720 CA USA.
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Szeri
keywords: Epiletic seizure propagation; Meso-scale cortical model; Optogenetic stimulation