Coupling between infraslow activities and high-frequency oscillations precedes seizure onset

Abstract

Infraslow activities and high-frequency oscillations (HFOs) are observed in seizure-onset zones. However, the relation between them remains unclear. In this study, we investigated phase-amplitude coupling between infraslow phase (0.016-1 Hz) and HFOs' amplitude of focal impaired awareness seizures followed by focal to bilateral tonic-clonic seizures, in a 28-year-old right-handed man with a dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumor. We recorded five habitual seizures. After the time of seizure onset, a significant increase in the power of HFOs was observed, and the power was significantly coupled with θ (4-8 Hz) phase. In contrast, coupling of infraslow activities and HFOs surged a few minutes before the seizure-onset time, and ictal HFOs discharged after that. Collectively, our results show that coupling of infraslow activities and HFOs precedes the seizure-onset time. We infer that such coupling may be a potential biomarker for seizure prediction.