Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 18, 2026
Direct-current Stimulation and Multi-electrode Array Recording of Seizure-like Activity in Mice Brain Slice Preparation
Published on: June 7, 2016
When is electrical cortical stimulation more likely to produce afterdischarges?
Hyang Woon Lee1, W R S Webber, Nathan Crone
1Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD 21287-7247, USA.
Objective:
To study when afterdischarges (ADs) are more likely to occur during cortical stimulation.
Methods:
We examined 6250 electrical stimulation trials in 13 patients with subdural electrodes, studying whether AD occurrence during a trial was influenced by electrode pair stimulated or AD occurrence during the previous trial. In total 545 electrodes were stimulated, 119 frontal (pre-perirolandic), 289 perirolandic, 36 parietal (post-perirolandic), 95 temporal, and 6 occipital.
Results:
When the same electrode pair was stimulated as the prior trial, 19% produced ADs compared to 5% of trials when a different electrodes pair was stimulated (p<0.0001). When trials showed ADs, and the next trial stimulated the same electrode pair, ADs occurred in 46% of cases, compared to 13% of trials following trials without ADs (p<0.0001). AD probability decreased with increased inter-trial interval length only when the prior trial was at the same electrode pair and had produced an AD (p=0.001). AD probability increased with stimulation duration, whether the trial followed a trial with (p<0.001) or without (p<0.0001) an AD.
Conclusions:
ADs were more likely to occur when an electrode pair showed ADs and was stimulated again, especially when stimulating after short inter-trial intervals or for longer duration.
Significance:
When ADs occur, waiting about a minute before resuming stimulation might lessen the likelihood of AD recurrence.
