title: Rhythmic activity in EEG and sleep in rats with absence epilepsy.
abstract: This study examines the hypothesis that absence epilepsy is accompanied by disturbances of rhythmic activity in EEG during sleep. Sleep-wake architecture and time-frequency parameters of EEG were analyzed during drowsiness and sleep in WAG/Rij rats with genetic predisposition to absence epilepsy. The incidence of seizures varied in a group of 10 rats, in which 5 individuals did not develop epileptic discharges in their EEG (asymptomatic rats). In contrast to asymptomatic, symptomatic subjects (1) displayed less percentage of wakefulness EEG pattern and more non-REM sleep, (2) showed higher beta and less delta EEG power in frontal cortex during non-REM sleep. Mid-frequency oscillations, such as sleep spindles and 5-9 Hz oscillations, were detected in EEG automatically and underwent time-frequency analysis by means of skeletons of wavelet surfaces. Some mid-frequency oscillations showed "complex" frequency structure, consisting of the dominant and subdominant components. "Complex" sleep spindles more frequently appeared in asymptomatic rats than in symptomatic, whereas the dominant frequency of these spindles in symptomatic rats was higher than in asymptomatic (12.7 vs 11.9 Hz). In general, low-frequency components were readily integrated in sleep spindles in asymptomatic WAG/Rij rats, and decrease in number of "complex" sleep spindles may be associated with epileptic phenotype.
authors.affiliation: Institute of the Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology of Russian Academy of Sciences, Butlerova str., 5A, Moscow 117485, Russia. Electronic address: eu.sitnikova@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Evgenia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sitnikova
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Nonlinear Processes, Saratov State University, Saratov, Astrakhanskaya str., 83, Saratov 410012, Russia; Saratov State Technical University, Saratov, Polytechnicheskaya str., 77, Saratov 410054, Russia. Electronic address: hramovae@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Alexander E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Hramov
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Nonlinear Processes, Saratov State University, Saratov, Astrakhanskaya str., 83, Saratov 410012, Russia; Saratov State Technical University, Saratov, Polytechnicheskaya str., 77, Saratov 410054, Russia. Electronic address: vvgrubov@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Vadim
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Grubov
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Nonlinear Processes, Saratov State University, Saratov, Astrakhanskaya str., 83, Saratov 410012, Russia; Saratov State Technical University, Saratov, Polytechnicheskaya str., 77, Saratov 410054, Russia. Electronic address: alexey.koronovskii@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Alexey A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Koronovsky
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D058256:Brain Waves; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods; D004832:Epilepsy, Absence / Q000503:physiopathology*; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D008297:Male; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated; D010641:Phenotype; D051381:Rats; D012640:Seizures / Q000503:physiopathology; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D058067:Wavelet Analysis
keywords: Absence epilepsy; Continuous wavelet transform; EEG analysis; Mid-frequency oscillations; Sleep spindles; WAG/Rij