Mapping whole-brain seizure network recruitment with optogenetic kindling

Epilepsy is often labeled as a network disorder, though a common view of seizures holds that they initiate in a singular onset zone before expanding contiguously outward. A recent report by Choy et al. (Choy M, Dadgar-Kiani E, Cron GO, Duffy BA, Schmid F, Edelman BJ, Asaad M, Chan RW, Vahdat S, Lee JH. Neuron 2021 Oct 23: S0896-6273(21)00778-9.) leverages new tools to study whole brain dynamics during epileptic seizures originating in the hippocampus. Cell-type-specific kindling and functional imaging revealed how various brain regions were recruited to seizures and uncovered a novel form of migrating seizure core.