Skip Navigation



Cerebral Cortex Advance Access published online on October 13, 2004
Cerebral Cortex, doi:10.1093/cercor/bhh184
© 2004 by Oxford University Press
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Supplementary Data
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
15/6/834    most recent
bhh184v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Houweling, A. R.
Right arrow Articles by Sejnowski, T. J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Houweling, A. R.
Right arrow Articles by Sejnowski, T. J.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Article

Homeostatic Synaptic Plasticity Can Explain Post-traumatic Epileptogenesis in Chronically Isolated Neocortex

Arthur R. Houweling 1*, Maxim Bazhenov 2, Igor Timofeev 3, Mircea Steriade 3, and Terrence J. Sejnowski 4

1 The Salk Institute, Computational Neurobiology Laboratory, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA; Program in Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
2 The Salk Institute, Computational Neurobiology Laboratory, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA
3 Laboratoire de Neurophysiologie, Université Laval, Québec, Canada G1K 7P4
4 The Salk Institute, Computational Neurobiology Laboratory, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA; Division of Biological Sciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: arthur{at}salk.edu.


  Abstract

Chronically isolated neocortex develops chronic hyperexcitability and focal epileptogenesis in a period of days to weeks. The mechanisms operating in this model of post-traumatic epileptogenesis are not well understood. We hypothesized that the spontaneous burst discharges recorded in chronically isolated neocortex result from homeostatic plasticity (a mechanism generally assumed to stabilize neuronal activity) induced by low neuronal activity after deafferentation. To test this hypothesis we constructed computer models of neocortex incorporating a biologically based homeostatic plasticity rule that operates to maintain firing rates. After deafferentation, homeostatic upregulation of excitatory synapses on pyramidal cells, either with or without concurrent downregulation of inhibitory synapses or upregulation of intrinsic excitability, initiated slowly repeating burst discharges that closely resembled the epileptiform burst discharges recorded in chronically isolated neocortex. These burst discharges lasted a few hundred ms, propagated at 1-3 cm/s and consisted of large (10-15 mV) intracellular depolarizations topped by a small number of action potentials. Our results support a role for homeostatic synaptic plasticity as a novel mechanism of post-traumatic epileptogenesis.

Keywords: brain trauma; computational model; deafferentation; epilepsy; injury; slow oscillation.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Neurosci.Home page
J. K. Liu and D. V. Buonomano
Embedding Multiple Trajectories in Simulated Recurrent Neural Networks in a Self-Organizing Manner
J. Neurosci., October 21, 2009; 29(42): 13172 - 13181.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J R Soc InterfaceHome page
C. Savin, J. Triesch, and M. Meyer-Hermann
Epileptogenesis due to glia-mediated synaptic scaling
J R Soc Interface, August 6, 2009; 6(37): 655 - 668.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Neurophysiol.Home page
R. Schaette and R. Kempter
Predicting Tinnitus Pitch From Patients' Audiograms With a Computational Model for the Development of Neuronal Hyperactivity
J Neurophysiol, June 1, 2009; 101(6): 3042 - 3052.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Neurosci.Home page
S. Avramescu and I. Timofeev
Synaptic Strength Modulation after Cortical Trauma: A Role in Epileptogenesis
J. Neurosci., July 2, 2008; 28(27): 6760 - 6772.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Neurosci.Home page
K. C. Riegle and R. L. Meyer
Rapid Homeostatic Plasticity in the Intact Adult Visual System
J. Neurosci., September 26, 2007; 27(39): 10556 - 10567.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Cereb CortexHome page
D. A. Nita, Y. Cisse, I. Timofeev, and M. Steriade
Waking-Sleep Modulation of Paroxysmal Activities Induced by Partial Cortical Deafferentation
Cereb Cortex, February 1, 2007; 17(2): 272 - 283.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Exp. Biol.Home page
D. J. Schulz
Plasticity and stability in neuronal output via changes in intrinsic excitability: it's what's inside that counts
J. Exp. Biol., December 15, 2006; 209(24): 4821 - 4827.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Neurosci.Home page
O. Feinerman and E. Moses
Transport of information along unidimensional layered networks of dissociated hippocampal neurons and implications for rate coding.
J. Neurosci., April 26, 2006; 26(17): 4526 - 4534.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Neurophysiol.Home page
D. A. Nita, Y. Cisse, I. Timofeev, and M. Steriade
Increased Propensity to Seizures After Chronic Cortical Deafferentation In Vivo
J Neurophysiol, February 1, 2006; 95(2): 902 - 913.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.