Asynchronous suppression of visual cortex during absence seizures

Absence epilepsy is a common childhood disorder featuring frequent cortical spike-wave seizures with a loss of awareness and behavior. Using the calcium indicator GCaMP6 with in vivo 2-photon cellular microscopy and simultaneous electrocorticography, we examined the collective activity profiles of individual neurons and surrounding neuropil across all layers in V1 during spike-wave seizure activity over prolonged periods in stargazer mice. We show that most (∼80%) neurons in all cortical layers reduce their activity during seizures, whereas a smaller pool activates or remains neutral. Unexpectedly, ictal participation of identified single unit activity is not fixed, but fluctuates on a flexible time scale across seizures. Pairwise correlation analysis of calcium activity reveals a surprising lack of synchrony among neurons and neuropil patches in all layers during seizures. Our results demonstrate an asynchronous suppression of visual cortex during absence seizures, with major implications for understanding cortical network function during EEG states of reduced awareness.