Conclusions

• Models of networks of locally connected excitable neurons are capable of producing patterns similar to the activity and propagation of epileptic seizure activity in neocortex.
• Repetitive stimulation with periodic stimuli produces periodic traveling waves with the frequency determined by properties of model of neurons
• The initial stimulation results in self-sustained spatiotemporal patterns that after time evolve from more simple traveling waves into rings, spirals, and more complex irregular patterns.
• The average velocities of spread decrease with the increase of inhibitory synaptic strength.
• The patterns of repetitive firing in neurons remote from the focus of seizure initiation are independent of the initiation stimulus parameters (provided minimum parameters for self-sustaining network burst generation are fulfilled)
• Patterns of repetitive firing in neurons remote from the point of seizure initiation depend upon patterns of synaptic connectivity and properties of the constituent neurons.

Supported by NIH 38958.