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Realistic modeling of mesoscopic ephaptic coupling in the human brain
Giulio Ruffini1,2,3, Ricardo Salvador2, Ehsan Tadayon4
1Neuroelectrics Corporation, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Plos Computational Biology
|June 2, 2020
Summary
Weak electric fields, or ephaptic transmission, may play a role in brain communication. This study found that ephaptic coupling decreases with age, suggesting its importance in neural processing across the lifespan.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Computational Neuroscience
- Biophysics
Background:
- Decades of research suggest weak electric fields influence neural processing.
- Ephaptic transmission is a proposed cellular communication system mediated by endogenous electric fields.
Purpose of the Study:
- To model mesoscopic ephaptic activity in the human brain.
- To explore the trajectory of ephaptic transmission during aging.
Main Methods:
- Utilized realistic finite element modeling to characterize electric fields generated by cortical dipoles.
- Adapted an interaction approximation to estimate membrane potential perturbation in pyramidal cells.
- Defined a metric (EMOD1) for dipole coupling based on distance and orientation, evaluated in 401 human brain models (ages 16-83).
Main Results:
- Modeled endogenous electric field magnitudes are comparable to experimentally measured fields and transcranial brain stimulation.
- Ephaptic coupling significantly decreases with age in the mesoscopic modeling approach.
- Age-related decrease is more pronounced in sensorimotor regions and medial brain structures.
Conclusions:
- Ephaptic modulation, a form of fast neuronal interaction, may contribute to cognitive and behavioral complexity.
- The modification of ephaptic coupling across the lifespan warrants further investigation in relation to function and pathology.
