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Krasnow Institute > Monday Seminars > Abstracts Electric Field Modulation of Neuronal Network Dynamics Bruce Gluckman I will discuss our recent work using electrical fields to reversibly interact with neuronal networks on a short time scale and to control seizure activity. The interaction here is significantly different than classical electrical stimulation which utilizes short current pulses that locally depolarize neuronal membranes, thereby exciting action potentials. Instead, we apply a spatially uniform electric field. This acts to polarize large groups of the pyramidal neurons within the networks, thereby making them either slightly more or less excitable. Therefore, by modulating the strength of the field we have a method of modulating the activity of a population of neurons within a network. The time scale over which we can apply this interaction can be anywhere from milliseconds to many minutes. Using this technique, we have produced the first demonstration of stochastic resonance in networks from mammalian brain, a phenomenon whereby the addition of noise increases a system's response to an otherwise subthreshold signal. More recently, we have used this interaction in an adaptive controller for in vitro seizure control. Using this controller we have been able to either suppress or enhance seizures in hippocampal slices. We foresee that this technology could provide the basis for a broad range of neural prosthetics.
The Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study |
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