Figure 1.

A “GABAergic initiation hypothesis” in the context of the state of epilepsy research. Epilepsy research is divided into studies focusing on seizure initiation (e.g., Miri et al., 2018), propagation (e.g., Trevelyan et al., 2006; Ellender et al., 2014), or termination (e.g., Schindler et al., 2007). Given the focus on interneuronal dynamics prior to seizure, this work sheds light on a “GABAergic initiation hypothesis” of seizure, diagrammed in detail here. The articulation of a potential mechanism explaining the sudden transition of interneurons into synchrony, alongside a justification as to why networks in a seizure state are more vulnerable to this transition, should be identified in order for this overall hypothesis of seizure initiation to be viable.