Using connectomics to gain insight into epilepsy

Abnormalities in structural brain networks and how brain regions communicate may underlie a variety of disorders, including epilepsy, which is one focus of a two-part Special Issue on the Brain Connectome in Brain Connectivity, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

The Special Issues were led by Guest Editors Brent Munsell, PhD, College of Charleston (SC), Guorong Wu, PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Leonardo Bonilha, MD, PhD, Medical University of South Carolina (Charleston), and Paul Laurienti, MD, PhD, Wake Forest School of Medicine (Winston-Salem, NC)

This second special issue includes the article entitled "Effective Connectivity within the Default Mode Network in Left Temporal Lobe Epilepsy: Findings from the Epilepsy Connectome Project," --with results reported from the Epilepsy Connectome Project--contributed by Mary Meyerand, Jeffrey Binder and colleagues from University of Wisconsin-Madison, Medical College of Wisconsin (Milwaukee), and Froedtert Hospital (Milwaukee). Individuals with epilepsy can have memory impairment. Therefore, the researchers studied the default mode network that is a collection of brain regions involved in memory function. The results showed a difference in these memory-related connections between healthy individuals and individuals with epilepsy. The researchers identified an excitatory connection association with inhibition of formation of the left hippocampal region in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy.

In another article, "Comparison of Methods to Identify Molecules in Noisy or Incomplete Brain Networks," Nitin Williams and colleagues from University of Helsinki (Finland), University of Genoa (Italy), Niguardo Hospital (Milan, Italy), HUS Medical Imaging Center (Helsinki, Finland), and University of Glasgow (UK) compare four different approaches to account for missing connections. The researchers offer their recommendations for what method is best to use in which setting to obtain the missing data.

Source: https://home.liebertpub.com/news/using-connectomics-to-understand-epilepsy/3526