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Updated: Jan 2, 2026
Generation and On-Demand Initiation of Acute Ictal Activity in Rodent and Human Tissue
Published on: January 19, 2019
The role of interictal discharges in ictogenesis - A dynamical perspective
Jan Chvojka1, Jan Kudlacek1, Wei-Chih Chang2
1Department of Physiology, Second Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic; Department of Developmental Epileptology, Institute of Physiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic; Department of Circuit Theory, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic.
Abstract:
Interictal epileptiform discharge (IED) is a traditional hallmark of epileptic tissue that is generated by the synchronous activity of a population of neurons. Interictal epileptiform discharges represent a heterogeneous group of pathological activities that differ in shape, duration, spatiotemporal distribution, underlying cellular and network mechanisms, and their relationship to seizure genesis. The exact role of IEDs in epilepsy is still not well understood, and there remains a persistent dichotomy about the impact on IEDs on seizures. Proseizure, antiseizure, and no impact on ictogenesis have all been described in previous studies. In this article, we review the existing knowledge on the role of interictal discharges in seizure genesis, and we discuss how dynamical approaches to ictogenesis can explain the existing dichotomy about the multifaceted role of IEDs in ictogenesis. This article is part of the Special Issue "NEWroscience 2018".
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