A Closed Loop Brain-machine Interface for Epilepsy Control Using Dorsal Column Electrical Stimulation

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

Although electrical neurostimulation has been proposed as an alternative treatment for drug-resistant cases of epilepsy, current procedures such as deep brain stimulation, vagus, and trigeminal nerve stimulation are effective only in a fraction of the patients. Here we demonstrate a closed loop brain-machine interface that delivers electrical stimulation to the dorsal column (DCS) of the spinal cord to suppress epileptic seizures. Rats were implanted with cortical recording microelectrodes and spinal cord stimulating electrodes, and then injected with pentylenetetrazole to induce seizures. Seizures were detected in real time from cortical local field potentials, after which DCS was applied. This method decreased seizure episode frequency by 44% and seizure duration by 38%. We argue that the therapeutic effect of DCS is related to modulation of cortical theta waves, and propose that this closed-loop interface has the potential to become an effective and semi-invasive treatment for refractory epilepsy and other neurological disorders.

Related collections

Most cited references 35

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Critical review of current animal models of seizures and epilepsy used in the discovery and development of new antiepileptic drugs.

Wolfgang Löscher (2011)

Animal models for seizures and epilepsy have played a fundamental role in advancing our understanding of basic mechanisms underlying ictogenesis and epileptogenesis and have been instrumental in the discovery and preclinical development of novel antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). However, there is growing concern that the efficacy of drug treatment of epilepsy has not substantially improved with the introduction of new AEDs, which, at least in part, may be due to the fact that the same simple screening models, i.e., the maximal electroshock seizure (MES) and s.c. pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) seizure tests, have been used as gatekeepers in AED discovery for >6 decades. It has been argued that these old models may identify only drugs that share characteristics with existing drugs, and are unlikely to have an effect on refractory epilepsies. Indeed, accumulating evidence with several novel AEDs, including levetiracetan, has shown that the MES and PTZ models do not identify all potential AEDs but instead may fail to discover compounds that have great potential efficacy but work through mechanisms not tested by these models. Awareness of the limitations of acute seizure models comes at a critical crossroad. Clearly, preclinical strategies of AED discovery and development need a conceptual shift that is moving away from using models that identify therapies for the symptomatic treatment of epilepsy to those that may be useful for identifying therapies that are more effective in the refractory population and that may ultimately lead to an effective cure in susceptible individuals by interfering with the processes underlying epilepsy. To realize this goal, the molecular mechanisms of the next generation of therapies must necessarily evolve to include targets that contribute to epileptogenesis and pharmacoresistance in relevant epilepsy models. Copyright © 2011 British Epilepsy Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

0 comments Cited 193 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Closed-loop optogenetic control of thalamus as a new tool to interrupt seizures after cortical injury

Jeanne Paz, Thomas J. Davidson, Eric Frechette … (2012)

Cerebrocortical injuries, such as stroke, are a major source of disability. Maladaptive consequences can result from post-injury local reorganization of cortical circuits. For example, epilepsy is a common sequela of cortical stroke, yet mechanisms responsible for seizures following cortical injuries remain unknown. In addition to local reorganization, long-range, extra-cortical connections might be critical for seizure maintenance. Here we report in rats the first evidence that the thalamus – a structure remote from but connected to the injured cortex – is required to maintain cortical seizures. Thalamocortical neurons connected to the injured epileptic cortex undergo changes in HCN channel expression and become hyperexcitable. Targeting these neurons with a closed-loop optogenetic strategy demonstrates that reducing their activity in real-time is sufficient to immediately interrupt electrographic and behavioral seizures. This approach is of therapeutic interest for intractable epilepsy, since it spares cortical function between seizures, in contrast to existing treatments such as surgical lesioning or drugs.

0 comments Cited 175 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: not found
Article: not found

Electrical inhibition of pain by stimulation of the dorsal columns: preliminary clinical report.

C Shealy, J T Mortimer, J B Reswick (2015)

0 comments Cited 123 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

All references

Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Sci Rep

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Sci Rep

Title: Scientific Reports

Publisher: Nature Publishing Group

ISSN (Electronic): 2045-2322

Publication date (Electronic): 08 September 2016

Publication date Collection: 2016

Volume: 6

Electronic Location Identifier: 32814

Affiliations

[1 ]Department of Neurobiology Duke University , Durham, NC 27710, USA

[2 ]Centro de Investigação Interdisciplinar em Saúde, Instituto de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Católica Portuguesa , Porto, Portugal

[3 ]Instituto de Ciências da Vida e da Saúde, Universidade do Minho , Braga, Portugal

[4 ]Department of Biomedical Engineering Duke University , Durham, NC 27710, USA

[5 ]Duke Center for Neuroengineering Duke University , Durham, NC 27710, USA

[6 ]Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Duke University , Durham, NC 27710, USA

[7 ]Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute of Neuroscience of Natal, Natal, Brazil .

Author notes

[a ] nicoleli@ 123456neuro.duke.edu

[*]

These authors contributed equally to this work.

Article

Publisher Item ID: srep32814

DOI: 10.1038/srep32814

PMC ID: 5015048

PubMed ID: 27605389

SO-VID: e8361d0e-5b9f-4b28-86e3-7a662bcd959b

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

History

Date received : 18 April 2016

Date accepted : 11 August 2016

Comments

Comment on this article

scite_

Cited by 15

See all cited by

A Closed Loop Brain-machine Interface for Epilepsy Control Using Dorsal Column Electrical Stimulation

Read this article at

Abstract

Related collections

Genome Engineering using CRISPR

Most cited references 35

Critical review of current animal models of seizures and epilepsy used in the discovery and development of new antiepileptic drugs.

Closed-loop optogenetic control of thalamus as a new tool to interrupt seizures after cortical injury

Electrical inhibition of pain by stimulation of the dorsal columns: preliminary clinical report.

Author and article information

Journal

Affiliations

Author notes

Article

History

Categories

Comments

Comment on this article

Similar content 195

Cited by 15