Abstracts

Rationale: Epilepsy is a disease of chronic changes in normal brain networks. Brain networks exhibit a range of synchronous activity at multiple time scales. Slow (<0.1Hz ) synchronous fluctuations in brain activity occur at rest without stimulation. Resting functional connectivity of slow correlated changes in brain networks related to sensory, motor, attention, and other functions can be measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We used fMRI-based resting functional connectivity to study abnormalities in networks involved in an animal model of absence epilepsy. This approach has the advantage that it can be used even when the subject is unable to perform tasks, and when seizures are not occurring. We used Wistar Albino Glaxo rats from Rijswijk (WAG/Rij), which exhibit spontaneous episodes of unresponsiveness accompanied by spike-wave discharges (SWD), resembling human absence seizures in behavior, electroencephalography (EEG), and antiepileptic drug sensitivity.