Combined effect of stimulation and electromagnetic induction on absence seizure inhibition in coupled thalamocortical circuits

Abstract

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) and electromagnetic induction are new techniques that are increasingly used in modern epilepsy treatments; however, the mechanism of action remains unclear. In this study, we constructed a bidirectional-coupled cortico-thalamic model, based on which we proposed three regulation schemes: isolated regulation of DBS, isolated regulation of electromagnetic induction and combined regulation of the previous two. In particular, we introduced DBS with a lower amplitude and considered the influence of electromagnetic induction caused by the transmembrane current on the membrane potential. The most striking finding of this study is that the three therapeutic schemes could effectively control abnormal discharge, and combined regulation could reduce the occurrence of epileptic seizures more effectively. The present study bridges the gap between the bidirectional coupling model and combined control. In this way, the damage induced by electrical stimulation of the patient's brain tissue could be reduced, and the abnormal physiological discharge pattern of the cerebral cortex was simultaneously regulated by different techniques. This work opens new avenues for improving brain dysfunction in patients with epilepsy, expands ideas for promoting the development of neuroscience and is meaningful for improving the health of modern society and developing the field of science. K E Y W O R D S bidirectional-coupled cortico-thalamic model, electromagnetic induction deep brain stimulation, epilepsy 1 | INTRODUCTIONEpilepsy, caused by abnormal synchronous firing of neurons in the brain, is a common neurological disease worldwide (Takami & Nakagawa, 2021). Epileptic seizures can be divided into partial and comprehensive seizures (Benbadis, 2005;Krumholz et al., 2015), such as generalised tonic-clonic seizures, tonic seizures and