The role of abnormal energy metabolism in the dynamics transition of epileptiform discharges

Epilepsy is a neurological disease caused by hypersynchronous abnormal discharge of neurons in the brain. Physiological studies have revealed that, as a type of cells widely distributed around neurons to maintain neural functional activities, glial cells can combine with the blood vessels to form the glio-vascular system, whose aberrant alterations in energy metabolism processes are closely related to the abnormal neuronal discharges during epileptic seizures. Based on these findings, the dynamic processes of energy supply in the glio-vascular system and energy consumption in neuronal discharge are firstly mathematically characterized and the dynamics equation of energy metabolism are constructed, thus a novel neuron model based on energy metabolism mechanisms is proposed. Then, combined with numerical experiments and bifurcation analysis, the dynamics transition of neuronal epileptiform discharges caused by abnormal energy metabolism and their underlying mechanisms are explored. The experimental results demonstrate that the reduced rate and steady-state value of energy production and enhanced energy consumption result in insufficient energy supply, which induces the dynamics transition of epileptiform discharges from seizures to spreading depolarization and hypoxic spreading depolarization.