Are the Spatio-Temporal Firings of Pyramidal Cells and Interneurons Markers of Impending Seizures?

Abstract

Current pharmacological, electrophysiological, and surgical treatments are not always effective for all epileptic syndromes. In analyzing the clinical utility, traditional EEG analysis provides a coarse representation of the neuronal activity and we hypothesize that for chronic, in vivo epilepsy research more specific electrophysiological techniques are necessary. In order to increase our understanding of single unit behavior in an epileptic network, this study recorded pre-seizure single unit firing rates from pyramidal cells and interneurons in an epileptic rat model of temporal lobe epilepsy. The information gained from this study seeks to aid in the development of new seizure warning and control methods.