Network dynamics of the epileptic brain at rest

Baseline neurodynamics are believed to play an important role in normal brain function. A potentially intrinsic property of the brain is the weak coupling between networks at rest, which enables it to be flexible, adapt, process novel stimuli, and learn. Brain regions become differentially coordinated in response to cognitive task and behavior demands and external stimuli. However, abnormally synchronized resting brain networks may also be associated with different pathologies. We investigated baseline network dynamics in the epileptic brain using information theoretic parameters to quantify coupling and directionality of information flow between different cortical regions. We estimated relative entropy, conditional mutual information and a related measure of directional coupling, from EEGs of patients with epilepsy and healthy subjects. At rest, the healthy brain appears to be characterized by low and non-directional network coupling, whereas the epileptic brain appears to be transiently and directionally synchronized.