Topic: epileptic focus

Seizures often originate in an epileptic focus, from where they spread to large areas of the brain. The potential pathways of generalization are of high importance as potential targets of therapeutic intervention. Here, we are testing the hypothesis that seizures generalize from a cortical epileptic focus via thalamic pathways, rather than via direct cortico-cortical connections. Higher-order thalamic nuclei are especially likely to be involved, as they project to large areas of the cortex.We employed an optogenetic acute epilepsy mouse model, where brief (10-15s) stimulation of the layer 6 co