Gail Is Harmata, Ariane E Rhone, Christopher K Kovach, Sukhbinder Kumar, Md Rakibul Mowla, Rup K Sainju, Yasunori Nagahama, Hiroyuki Oya, Brian K Gehlbach, Michael A Ciliberto, Rashmi N Mueller, Hiroto Kawasaki, Kyle Ts Pattinson, Kristina Simonyan, Paul W Davenport, Matthew A Howard Iii, Mitchell Steinschneider, Aubrey C Chan, George B Richerson, John A Wemmie, Brian J Dlouhy
Postictal apnea is thought to be a major cause of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP). However, the mechanisms underlying postictal apnea are unknown. To understand causes of postictal apnea, we used a multimodal approach to study brain mechanisms of breathing control in 20 patients (ranging from pediatric to adult) undergoing intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) for intractable epilepsy. Our results indicate that amygdala seizures can cause postictal apnea. Moreover, we identified a distinct region within the amygdala where electrical stimulation was sufficient to reproduce prolonged breathing loss persisting well beyond the end of stimulation...
October 3, 2023: JCI Insight