Possible pathological mechanisms of absence seizures appearing in the reticular thalamic nucleus: A theoretical basis. (November 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hu, Bing; Wang, Dingjiang; Xia, Zhinan; Zhang, Dongmei; Yang, Aijun; Shi, Qianqian; Zhang, Jingsong; Dai, Hao
• Is Part Of: Chaos, solitons and fractals. Volume 140(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-11
• Subjects: Absence seizures -- Basal ganglia -- Corticothalamic network -- Reticular thalamic nucleus -- Onset and control mechanisms; Chaotic behavior in systems -- Periodicals; Solitons -- Periodicals; Fractals -- Periodicals; Chaotic behavior in systems; Fractals; Solitons; Periodicals; 003.7
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chaos.2020.110080
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0960-0779

Abstract

Abstract: In this paper, we study the generation and inhibition mechanisms of absence epilepsy appearing in the reticular thalamic nucleus (TRN) of the thalamus in a basal ganglia-corticothalamic network, which has been proven to be effective for simulating epileptic seizures in the brain. We found that the spike-and-wave discharges (SWDs) activities (2–4 Hz) appeared in the TRN by adjusting the coupling weight in the excitatory pathway "SRN ⟶ EPN" and the delay in the inhibitory pathway "TRN ⊸ Thalamic relay nucleus (SRN)". The SWDs can disappear by controlling the firing state of the substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr), which sends strong inhibitory projections to both the SRN and TRN in the model. Suppression of seizure activities may be realized through both the isolated pathway "SNr ⊸ TRN" and the isolated pathway "SNr ⊸ SRN", or through the competition mechanism between them. Unidirectional and bidirectional regulation phenomena were obtained in the simulations, and the mechanisms of these can be well explained in this model. The theoretical mechanism of epilepsy appearing in the TRN has received little attention to date, and we hope that the results shown in this paper can inspire new ideas for experimental study in the future.