Prolonged and unprolonged complex febrile seizures differently affect frontal theta brain activity
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Fanny Thébault-Dagher1, Florence Deguire1, Inga Sophia Knoth2
1Department of Psychology, Université de Montréal, Marie Victorin Building, 90 Vincent-D'Indy Avenue, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Centre de recherche en neuropsychologie et cognition, Université de Montréal, Marie Victorin Building, 90 Vincent-D'Indy Avenue, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center, Université de Montréal, 3175 Chemin de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Insights
Children with complex febrile seizures (FS) exhibit distinct brain activity differences. Complex prolonged FS may show hyperexcitability, while complex unprolonged FS demonstrate impaired habituation.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Pediatric Neurology
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Children with complex febrile seizures (FS) often experience persistent cognitive and functional deficits.
- Understanding the underlying brain activity differences is crucial for addressing these deficits.
- Electroencephalography (EEG) offers a non-invasive method to study brain function in these children.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate distinct differences in brain activity during an auditory learning paradigm in children with a history of complex FS.
- To differentiate brain activity patterns between complex prolonged (CP) and complex unprolonged (CUP) febrile seizures.
- To explore the relationship between brain activity, learning capacities, and FS type using EEG.
Main Methods:
- EEG recordings were obtained from 43 children with a history of FS.
- An auditory habituation paradigm was employed, analyzing brain activity in the time-frequency domain.
- Mixed-analysis of variance assessed spectral power differences related to stimulus repetition and FS type (CP vs. CUP).
Main Results:
- Significant repetition suppression (RS) effects were observed in the 3-6 Hz frequency range at frontal sites.
- An interaction between stimulus repetition and FS type was identified.
- Children with CP FS showed increased spectral power to initial stimuli, while CUP FS children lacked typical RS patterns.
Conclusions:
- Distinct abnormalities in brain activity were observed in children with complex FS during a habituation task.
- CP FS may be associated with neural hyperexcitability, whereas CUP FS might involve impaired habituation processes.
- These findings highlight the need for further research into the role of these brain activity differences in complex FS prognosis and clinical features.
Objective:
Studies have identified mild but persistent cognitive and functional deficits, which could be linked to each other, in children with complex febrile seizures (FS). Our aim was to investigate differences in brain activity in children with a history of complex FS, through a study paradigm notably associated with the development of learning capacities and using electroencephalographic (EEG) signal. To further increase our understanding of these differences, complex FS were studied separately depending on their type.
Method:
EEG was recorded in 43 children with past FS. Brain activity associated with auditory learning was investigated using a habituation paradigm, in which repetition suppression (RS) is typically found following stimulus repetition. Auditory stimuli were repeated three times, and each presentation were analysed separately in the time-frequency (TF) domain. A mixed-analysis of variance was used to assess differences in spectral power between stimulus repetition and FS type (simple vs complex prolonged; CP vs complex unprolonged; CUP).
Results:
Repetition effects were found in the 3-6 Hz during 150-600 ms time window after stimulus onset at frontal sites (F(2, 40) = 5.645, p = 0.007, η2p = 0.220). Moreover, an interaction effect between stimulus repetition and FS type (F(4, 80) = 2.607, p = 0.042, η2p = 0.115) was found. Children with CP FS showed greater increase in spectral power in response to the first stimulus presentation, while children with CUP FS failed to show a RS pattern.
Significance:
Our results show distinct abnormalities in brain activity to a habituation paradigm. We argue that these changes suggest children with CP FS may be hyperexcitable, while children with CUP FS show impaired habituation processes. Still, these differences may be associated with other clinical features linked to complex FS as well. Hence, the role of these differences in complex FS incidence and prognosis should be the subject of future studies.
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