Chimera States and Seizures in a Mouse Neuronal Model
Henry Mitchell, Peter Sheridan Dodds, J. Matthew Mahoney, Christopher M. Danforth
Abstract
Chimera states — the coexistence of synchrony and asynchrony in a nonlocally-coupled network of identical oscillators — are often used as a model framework for epileptic seizures. Here, we explore the dynamics of chimera states in a network of modified Hindmarsh–Rose neurons, configured to reflect the graph of the mesoscale mouse connectome. Our model produces superficially epileptiform activity converging on persistent chimera states in a large region of a two-parameter space governing connections (a) between subcortices within a cortex and (b) between cortices. Our findings contribute to a growing body of literature suggesting mathematical models can qualitatively reproduce epileptic seizure dynamics.