Between 0.6% and 0.7% of the French population would be affected by epilepsy. Yet, according to researchers at the National Institute of Health (Inserm), “epileptic seizures exist in a latent state in all brains.” The team of doctors Viktor Jirsa and Christophe Bernard has developed a mathematical model of epilepsy, published by the journal Brain.
In the study, they explain that the seizures obey very simple mathematical rules, despite the diversity of its forms ranging from loss of consciousness to a tenuous muscle contraction or an absence of just a few seconds.
Interviewed by the FigaroChristophe Barnard explains the mechanism of seizures epilepsy thanks to a very simple image: “The brain would be a landscape where a character walks. But in this region stand forbidden castles: if you enter them, you have an epileptic fit.”
A form of primitive activity
Castles are surrounded by walls, which are weaker or stronger depending on age. “These walls can also be crossed by the young adult if an extreme event (head trauma, electroshock, etc.) catapults him into the castle,” he says. “The epileptic seizure is perhaps the most primitive form of activity the brain can generate.”
Epilepsy, the most common neurological disease after migraine, is rather well controlled today: the only constraint being daily medication. Thanks to the model developed by Inserm researchers, new, more personalized treatments can be developed.
