Dresden 2014 – scientific programme

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help

BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 19: Focus Session: Dynamical Patterns in Neural Systems: From Brain Function to Dysfunction (joint DY/BP)

BP 19.5: Talk

Tuesday, April 1, 2014, 11:15–11:30, HÜL 186

The Cerebral Cortex as an Excitable Medium: Spiral Dynamics in Cortical Models of Epilepsy — •Kentaroh Takagaki — Leibniz Institut für Neurobiologie, Magdeburg, Germany

Epilepsy affects up to 50 million people worldwide, each year. Although much research has focused on the genetic and pharmacological aspects of this disorder, little is known about how the population activity patterns of neurons initiate and stabilize within the epileptic cortex. Our work in cortical slice models of epilepsy shows that spatially organized, dynamically stable spiral patterns may contribute to such epileptogenesis. We have also recently recorded such phenomena in vivo, in the Mongolian Gerbil.

We hypothesize that such spiral dynamics may serve a role similar to the well-known reentrant spirals in ventricular fibrillation of the heart. To explore this hypothesis and brain population dynamics in general, we have been applying transcranial DC stimulation to modulate the excitability of the cortex, and observing the resulting population dynamics via voltage-sensitive dye imaging.