text: Whole-Brain Preclinical Study Illuminates How Epileptic Seizures Originate | Newsroom | Weill Cornell Medicine
  Seizure initiation typically occurs in regions characterized by more active excitatory cells (crimson) before spreading to regions dominated by inhibitory neurons (green). Contour lines indicate the relative timing of seizure activity in initiation (orange-red) and propagation (blue) zones. Image courtesy of Dr. James Niemeyer.
  Epilepsy is common, afflicting roughly fifty million people around the world at any one time. But how it originates has never been entirely clear. On the one hand, there is evidence that seizures arise from zones in the brain that favor excitatory neuron activity over the usual restraining influence of inhibitory neurons. On the other hand, several recent studies have suggested that excessive activity in inhibitory neurons may trigger seizures – some researchers have observed earlier seizure activity in these cells. This has left a gap in understanding of the different roles of excitation and inhibition in seizures.
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