Control Mechanisms on the Initiation of Cortical Wave Propagation Preceding Seizure Termination

Abstract

Abstract Organized patterns of activity in the form of traveling waves are characteristic features observed in clinical data recorded in vivo preceding seizure termination. Understanding the exact biological mechanisms leading to this type of cortical wave propagation is an open challenge. Since these relatively simple brain phenomena appear rigth before seizure termination, it is interesting to understand the mechanisms that initiate such wave propagation. Knowing these mechanisms may help to understand how to shorten the length of a seizure and position the brain into a state of seizure termination sooner. In this paper, we present a minimum-time control mechanism for the initiation of traveling wave activity in an activity-based neural field model with features observed in clinical recordings.