A modification to the Kuramoto model to simulate epileptic seizures as synchronization
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Updated: Jul 26, 2025

Network Analysis of Foramen Ovale Electrode Recordings in Drug-resistant Temporal Lobe Epilepsy Patients
Published on: December 18, 2016
José Alfredo Zavaleta-Viveros1, Porfirio Toledo2, Martha Lorena Avendaño-Garrido2
1Facultad de Matemáticas, Universidad Veracruzana, Calle Paseo No. 112, Lote 12, Sección 2a, Villa Nueva, Nuevo Xalapa, 91097, Xalapa, Veracruz, México. pepezavaleta20@gmail.com.
Abstract:
The Kuramoto model was developed to describe the coupling of oscillators, motivated by the natural synchronization phenomena. We are interested in modeling an epileptic seizure considering it as the synchronization of action potentials using and modifying this model. In this article, we propose to modify this model, changing the constant coupling force for a function with logistic growth to simulate the onset and epileptic seizure level in an adult male rat caused by the administration of lithium-pilocarpine. Later, we select some frequencies and their respective amplitude values using an algorithm based on the fast Fourier transform (FFT) from an electroencephalography signal when the rat is in basal conditions. Then, we take these values as the natural frequencies of the oscillators in the modified Kuramoto model, considering every oscillator as a single neuron to simulate the emergence of an epileptic seizure numerically by increasing the synchronization value in the coupling function. Finally, using Dynamic Time Warping algorithm, we compare the simulated signal by the Kuramoto model with an FFT approximation of the epileptic seizure.
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