Alterations in topology, cost and dynamics of gamma-band EEG functional networks in a preclinical model of traumatic brain injury
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Tsikonofilos, Konstantinos
Bruyns-Haylett, Michael
May, Hazel G
Donat, Cornelius K
Kozlov, Andriy S
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of disability leading to multiple sequelae in cognitive, sensory, and physical domains, including posttraumatic epilepsy. Despite extensive research, our understanding of its impact on macroscopic brain circuitry remains incomplete. We analyzed electrophysiological functional connectomes in the gamma band from an animal model of blast-induced TBI over multiple time points after injury. We revealed differences in small-world propensity and rich-club structure compared with age-matched controls, indicating functional reorganization following injury. We further investigated cost-efficiency trade-offs, propose a computationally efficient normalization procedure for quantifying the cost of spatially embedded networks that controls for connectivity strength differences, and observed dynamic changes across the injury timeline. To explore potential links between altered network topology and epileptic activity, we employed a brain-wide computational model of seizure dynamics and attribute brain reorganization to a homeostatic mechanism of activity regulation with the potential unintended consequence of driving generalized seizures. Finally, we demonstrated post-injury hyperexcitability that manifests as an increase in sound-evoked response amplitudes at the cortical level. Our work characterizes, for the first time, gamma-band functional network reorganization in a model of brain injury and proposes potential causes of these changes, thus identifying targets for future therapeutic interventions.
Date Issued
2025-07-29
Date Acceptance
2025-04-29
Citation
Network Neuroscience, 2025, 9 (3), pp.1013-1038
ISSN
2472-1751
Publisher
The MIT Press
Start Page
1013
End Page
1038
Journal / Book Title
Network Neuroscience
Volume
9
Issue
3
Copyright Statement
© 2025 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For a full description of the license, please visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.
License URL
Identifier
10.1162/netn.a.21
Subjects
TBI
EEG
Small-world
Rich-club
Cost
Epilepsy
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2025-05-23