Epilepsy affects 3-5% of the population worldwide, and affects indiscriminately of age, sex or race. One of the most common types of medically intractable epilepsy is temporal lobe epilepsy. In the vast majority of cases, seizures arise from mesial temporal structures that have been damaged months to years before onset of seizures. To better understand the functions of complex neurological changes in brain tissue, we propose to elucidate the mechanisms of pathological evolution of epilepsy by comparing different levels of temporal and spatial development via histology, multi-electrode array recording, MR imaging, along with linear and nonlinear analysis of data. By characterizing the latent development of epilepsy from traumatic insult to onset in the chronic limbic epilepsy rat model (a realistic animal model for human temporal lobe epilepsy and epileptogenesis), essential relationships between the onset pathology and the remodeling of the neural tissue will be described and correlated. The potential impact of this project is profound. To our knowledge, no study has thoroughly correlated such an extensive cross-disciplinary system of models in an effort to better understand such a fundamental pathology. To leverage this overwhelming potential for advancing the neurological sciences, data is to be disseminated dynamically via the Internet to facilitate other perspectives for analysis in places where such facilities may be limited. The broader impact and outcomes of this project will not just elucidate the transition to epilepsy but establish a foundation upon which neuroscience models can be built and validated. Additionally we will establish the base parameters upon which to initiate and evaluate control strategies for neural pathologies. Given the rapid evolution and maturation of techniques in brain machine interfaces it is even more important that modeling and control techniques be based and developed upon profound longitudinal studies of this kind under controlled conditions and incorporated into the design of novel technology and devices for the control of epilepsy.
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