A neuronal network model of interictal and recurrent ictal activity

Abstract

We propose a neuronal network model which undergoes a saddle-node bifurcation on an invariant circle as the mechanism of the transition from the interictal to the ictal (seizure) state. In the vicinity of this transition, the model captures important dynamical features of both interictal and ictal states. We study the nature of interictal spikes and early warnings of the transition predicted by this model. We further demonstrate that recurrent seizures emerge due to the interaction between two networks.