scholarly journals Parameter inference on brain network models with unknown node dynamics and spatial heterogeneity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Viktor Sip ◽  
Spase Petkoski ◽  
Meysam Hashemi ◽  
Viktor K Jirsa

Model-based data analysis of whole-brain dynamics links the observed data to model parameters in a network of neural masses. In recent years a special focus was placed on the role of regional variance of model parameters for the emergent activity. Such analyses however depend on the properties of the employed neural mass model, which is often obtained through a series of major simplifications or analogies. Here we propose a data-driven approach where the neural mass model needs not to be specified. Building on the recent progresses in identification of dynamical systems with neural networks, we propose a method to infer from the functional data both the neural mass model representing the regional dynamics as well as the region- and subject-specific parameters, while respecting the known network structure. We demonstrate on two synthetic data sets that our method is able to recover the original model parameters, and that the trained generative model produces dynamics resembling the training data both on the regional level and on the whole-brain level. The present approach opens a novel way to the analysis of resting-state fMRI with possible applications in understanding the changes of whole-brain dynamics during aging or in neurodegenerative diseases.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edmundo Lopez-Sola ◽  
Roser Sanchez-Todo ◽  
Èlia Lleal ◽  
Elif Köksal-Ersöz ◽  
Maxime Yochum ◽  
...  

The prospect of personalized computational modeling in neurological disorders, and in particular in epilepsy, is poised to revolutionize the field. Work in the last two decades has demonstrated that neural mass models (NMM) can realistically reproduce and explain epileptic seizure transitions as recorded by electrophysiological methods (EEG, SEEG). In previous work, advances were achieved by i) increasing excitation in NMM and ii) heuristically varying network inhibitory coupling parameters or, equivalently, inhibitory synaptic gains. Based on those studies, we provide here a laminar neural mass model capable of realistically reproducing the electrical activity recorded by SEEG in the epileptogenic zone during interictal to ictal states. With the exception of the external noise input onto the pyramidal cell population, the model dynamics are autonomous --- all model parameters are static. By setting the system at a point close to bifurcation, seizure-like transitions are generated, including pre-ictal spikes, low voltage fast activity, and ictal rhythmic activity. A novel element in the model is a physiologically plausible algorithm for chloride accumulation dynamics: the gain of GABAergic post-synaptic potentials is modulated by the pathological accumulation of Cl$^-$ in pyramidal cells, due to high inhibitory input and/or dysfunctional chloride transport. In addition, in order to simulate SEEG signals to compare with real recordings performed in epileptic patients, the NMM is embedded first in a layered model of the neocortex and then in a realistic physical model. We compare modeling results with data from four epilepsy patient cases. By including key pathophysiological mechanisms, the proposed framework captures succinctly the electrophysiological phenomenology observed in ictal states, paving the way for robust personalization methods using brain network models based on NMMs.


2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (01) ◽  
pp. 1750027 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhen Ma

Electroencephalography (EEG) is an important method to investigate the neurophysiological mechanism underlying epileptogenesis to identify new therapies for the treatment of epilepsy. The neurophysiologically based neural mass model (NMM) can build a bridge between signal processing and neurophysiology, which can be used as a platform to explore the neurophysiological mechanism of epileptogenesis. Most EEG signals cannot be regarded as the outputs of a single NMM with identical model parameters. The outputs of NMM are simple because the diversity of neural signals in the same NMM is ignored. To improve the simulation of EEG signals, a multiple NMM is proposed, the output of which is the linear combination of the outputs of all NMMs. The NMM number is not fixed and is minimized under the premise of guaranteeing the fitting effect. Orthogonal matching pursuit is used to solve a constrained [Formula: see text] norm minimization problem for NMM number and the strength of every NMM. The results showed that the NMM number was significantly lower during the ictal period than during the interictal period, and the strength of major NMMs increased. This indicates that neural masses fuse into fewer larger neural masses with greater strength. The distribution of excitatory and inhibitory strength during the ictal and interictal periods was similar, whereas the excitation/inhibition ratio was higher during the ictal period than during the interictal period.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pok Him Siu ◽  
Eli J Muller ◽  
Valerio Zerbi ◽  
Kevin Aquino ◽  
Ben D. Fulcher

New brain atlases with high spatial resolution and whole-brain coverage have rapidly advanced our knowledge of the brain's neural architecture, including the systematic variation of excitatory and inhibitory cell densities across the mammalian cortex. But understanding how the brain's microscale physiology shapes brain dynamics at the macroscale has remained a challenge. While physiologically based mathematical models of brain dynamics are well placed to bridge this explanatory gap, their complexity can form a barrier to providing clear mechanistic interpretation of the dynamics they generate. In this work we develop a neural-mass model of the mouse cortex and show how bifurcation diagrams, which capture local dynamical responses to inputs and their variation across brain regions, can be used to understand the resulting whole-brain dynamics. We show that strong fits to resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data can be found in surprisingly simple dynamical regimes (including where all brain regions are confined to a stable fixed point) where regions are able to respond strongly to variations in their inputs, consistent with direct structural connections providing a strong constraint on functional connectivity in the anesthetized mouse. We also use bifurcation diagrams to show how perturbations to local excitatory and inhibitory coupling strengths across the cortex, constrained by cell-density data, provide spatially dependent constraints on resulting cortical activity, and support a greater diversity of coincident dynamical regimes. Our work illustrates methods for visualizing and interpreting model performance in terms of underlying dynamical mechanisms, an approach that is crucial for building explanatory and physiologically grounded models of the dynamical principles that underpin large-scale brain activity.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lara Escuain-Poole ◽  
Jordi Garcia-Ojalvo ◽  
Antonio J. Pons

AbstractData assimilation, defined as the fusion of data with preexisting knowledge, is particularly suited to elucidating underlying phenomena from noisy/insufficient observations. Although this approach has been widely used in diverse fields, only recently have efforts been directed to problems in neuroscience, using mainly intracranial data and thus limiting its applicability to invasive measurements involving electrode implants. Here we intend to apply data assimilation to non-invasive electroencephalography (EEG) measurements to infer brain states and their characteristics. For this purpose, we use Kalman filtering to combine synthetic EEG data with a coupled neural-mass model together with Ary’s model of the head, which projects intracranial signals onto the scalp. Our results show that using several extracranial electrodes allows to successfully estimate the state and parameters of the neural masses and their interactions, whereas one single electrode provides only a very partial and insufficient view of the system. The superiority of using multiple extracranial electrodes over using only one, be it intra- or extracranial, is shown over a wide variety of dynamical behaviours. Our results show potential towards future clinical applications of the method.Author SummaryTo completely understand brain function, we will need to integrate experimental information into a consistent theoretical framework. Invasive techniques as EcoG recordings, together with models that describe the brain at the mesoscale, provide valuable information about the brain state and its dynamical evolution when combined with techniques coming from control theory, such as the Kalman filter. This method, which is specifically designed to deal with systems with noisy or imperfect data, combines experimental data with theoretical models assuming Bayesian inference. So far, implementations of the Kalman filter have not been suited for non-invasive measures like EEG. Here we attempt to overcome this situation by introducing a model of the head that allows to transfer the intracranial signals produced by a mesoscopic model to the scalp in the form of EEG recordings. Our results show the advantages of using multichannel EEG recordings, which are extended in space and allow to discriminate signals produced by the interaction of coupled columns. The extension of the Kalman method presented here can be expected to expand the applicability of the technique to all situations where EEG recordings are used, including the routine monitoring of illnesses or rehabilitation tasks, brain-computer interface protocols, and transcranial stimulation.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Áine Byrne ◽  
James Ross ◽  
Rachel Nicks ◽  
Stephen Coombes

AbstractNeural mass models have been used since the 1970s to model the coarse-grained activity of large populations of neurons. They have proven especially fruitful for understanding brain rhythms. However, although motivated by neurobiological considerations they are phenomenological in nature, and cannot hope to recreate some of the rich repertoire of responses seen in real neuronal tissue. Here we consider a simple spiking neuron network model that has recently been shown to admit an exact mean-field description for both synaptic and gap-junction interactions. The mean-field model takes a similar form to a standard neural mass model, with an additional dynamical equation to describe the evolution of within-population synchrony. As well as reviewing the origins of this next generation mass model we discuss its extension to describe an idealised spatially extended planar cortex. To emphasise the usefulness of this model for EEG/MEG modelling we show how it can be used to uncover the role of local gap-junction coupling in shaping large scale synaptic waves.


2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (11) ◽  
pp. 113118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuzhen Cao ◽  
Liu Jin ◽  
Fei Su ◽  
Jiang Wang ◽  
Bin Deng

Author(s):  
Sheikh Md. Rabiul Islam ◽  
◽  
Md. Shakibul Islam ◽  

The electroencephalogram (EEG) is an electrophysiological monitoring strategy that records the spontaneous electrical movement of the brain coming about from ionic current inside the neurons of the brain. The importance of the EEG signal is mainly the diagnosis of different mental and brain neurodegenerative diseases and different abnormalities like seizure disorder, encephalopathy, dementia, memory problem, sleep disorder, stroke, etc. The EEG signal is very useful for someone in case of a coma to determine the level of brain activity. So, it is very important to study EEG generation and analysis. To reduce the complexity of understanding the pathophysiological mechanism of EEG signal generation and their changes, different simulation-based EEG modeling has been developed which are based on anatomical equivalent data. In this paper, Instead of a detailed model a neural mass model has been used to implement different simulation-based EEG models for EEG signal generation which refers to the simplified and straightforward method. This paper aims to introduce obtained EEG signals of own implementation of the Lopes da Silva model, Jansen-Rit model, and Wendling model in Simulink and to compare characteristic features with real EEG signals and better understanding the EEG abnormalities especially the seizure-like signal pattern.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document