Spreading depolarizations in ischaemia after subarachnoid haemorrhage, a diagnostic phase III study.

Focal brain damage after aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage predominantly results from intracerebral haemorrhage, and early and delayed cerebral ischaemia. The prospective, observational, multicentre, cohort, diagnostic phase III trial, DISCHARGE-1, primarily investigated whether the peak total spreading depolarization-induced depression duration of a recording day during delayed neuromonitoring (delayed depression duration) indicates delayed ipsilateral infarction. Consecutive patients (n = 205) who required neurosurgery were enrolled in six university hospitals from September 2009 to April 2018. Subdural electrodes for electrocorticography were implanted. Participants were excluded on the basis of exclusion criteria, technical problems in data quality, missing neuroimages or patient withdrawal (n = 25). Evaluators were blinded to other measures. Longitudinal MRI, and CT studies if clinically indicated, revealed that 162/180 patients developed focal brain damage during the first 2 weeks. During 4.5 years of cumulative recording, 6777 spreading depolarizations occurred in 161/180 patients and 238 electrographic seizures in 14/180. Ten patients died early; 90/170 developed delayed infarction ipsilateral to the electrodes. Primary objective was to investigate whether a 60-min delayed depression duration cut-off in a 24-h window predicts delayed infarction with >0.60 sensitivity and >0.80 specificity, and to estimate a new cut-off. The 60-min cut-off was too short. Sensitivity was sufficient [= 0.76 (95% confidence interval: 0.65-0.84), P = 0.0014] but specificity was 0.59 (0.47-0.70), i.e. <0.80 (P < 0.0001). Nevertheless, the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve of delayed depression duration was 0.76 (0.69-0.83, P < 0.0001) for delayed infarction and 0.88 (0.81-0.94, P < 0.0001) for delayed ischaemia (reversible delayed neurological deficit or infarction). In secondary analysis, a new 180-min cut-off indicated delayed infarction with a targeted 0.62 sensitivity and 0.83 specificity. In awake patients, the AUROC curve of delayed depression duration was 0.84 (0.70-0.97, P = 0.001) and the prespecified 60-min cut-off showed 0.71 sensitivity and 0.82 specificity for reversible neurological deficits. In multivariate analysis, delayed depression duration (ß = 0.474, P < 0.001), delayed median Glasgow Coma Score (ß = -0.201, P = 0.005) and peak transcranial Doppler (ß = 0.169, P = 0.016) explained 35% of variance in delayed infarction. Another key finding was that spreading depolarization-variables were included in every multiple regression model of early, delayed and total brain damage, patient outcome and death, strongly suggesting that they are an independent biomarker of progressive brain injury. While the 60-min cut-off of cumulative depression in a 24-h window indicated reversible delayed neurological deficit, only a 180-min cut-off indicated new infarction with >0.60 sensitivity and >0.80 specificity. Although spontaneous resolution of the neurological deficit is still possible, we recommend initiating rescue treatment at the 60-min rather than the 180-min cut-off if progression of injury to infarction is to be prevented.

Numerical Simulation of Concussive-Generated Cortical Spreading Depolarization to Optimize DC-EEG Electrode Spacing for Noninvasive Visual Detection.

BACKGROUND: Cortical spreading depolarization (SD) is a propagating depolarization wave of neurons and glial cells in the cerebral gray matter. SD occurs in all forms of severe acute brain injury, as documented by using invasive detection methods. Based on many experimental studies of mechanical brain deformation and concussion, the occurrence of SDs in human concussion has often been hypothesized. However, this hypothesis cannot be confirmed in humans, as SDs can only be detected with invasive detection methods that would require either a craniotomy or a burr hole to be performed on athletes. Typical electroencephalography electrodes, placed on the scalp, can help detect the possible presence of SD but have not been able to accurately and reliably identify SDs. METHODS: To explore the possibility of a noninvasive method to resolve this hurdle, we developed a finite element numerical model that simulates scalp voltage changes that are induced by a brain surface SD. We then compared our simulation results with retrospectively evaluated data in patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage from Drenckhahn et al. (Brain 135:853, 2012). RESULTS: The ratio of peak scalp to simulated peak cortical voltage, Vscalp/Vcortex, was 0.0735, whereas the ratio from the retrospectively evaluated data was 0.0316 (0.0221, 0.0527) (median [1st quartile, 3rd quartile], n = 161, p < 0.001, one sample Wilcoxon signed-rank test). These differing values provide validation because their differences can be attributed to differences in shape between concussive SDs and aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage SDs, as well as the inherent limitations in human study voltage measurements. This simulated scalp surface potential was used to design a virtual scalp detection array. Error analysis and visual reconstruction showed that 1 cm is the optimal electrode spacing to visually identify the propagating scalp voltage from a cortical SD. Electrode spacings of 2 cm and above produce distorted images and high errors in the reconstructed image. CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis suggests that concussive (and other) SDs can be detected from the scalp, which could confirm SD occurrence in human concussion, provide concussion diagnosis on the basis of an underlying physiological mechanism, and lead to noninvasive SD detection in the setting of severe acute brain injury.

Terminal spreading depolarization and electrical silence in death of human cerebral cortex.

OBJECTIVE: Restoring the circulation is the primary goal in emergency treatment of cerebral ischemia. However, better understanding of how the brain responds to energy depletion could help predict the time available for resuscitation until irreversible damage and advance development of interventions that prolong this span. Experimentally, injury to central neurons begins only with anoxic depolarization. This potentially reversible, spreading wave typically starts 2 to 5 minutes after the onset of severe ischemia, marking the onset of a toxic intraneuronal change that eventually results in irreversible injury. METHODS: To investigate this in the human brain, we performed recordings with either subdural electrode strips (n = 4) or intraparenchymal electrode arrays (n = 5) in patients with devastating brain injury that resulted in activation of a Do Not Resuscitate-Comfort Care order followed by terminal extubation. RESULTS: Withdrawal of life-sustaining therapies produced a decline in brain tissue partial pressure of oxygen (pti O2 ) and circulatory arrest. Silencing of spontaneous electrical activity developed simultaneously across regional electrode arrays in 8 patients. This silencing, termed "nonspreading depression," developed during the steep falling phase of pti O2 (intraparenchymal sensor, n = 6) at 11 (interquartile range [IQR] = 7-14) mmHg. Terminal spreading depolarizations started to propagate between electrodes 3.9 (IQR = 2.6-6.3) minutes after onset of the final drop in perfusion and 13 to 266 seconds after nonspreading depression. In 1 patient, terminal spreading depolarization induced the initial electrocerebral silence in a spreading depression pattern; circulatory arrest developed thereafter. INTERPRETATION: These results provide fundamental insight into the neurobiology of dying and have important implications for survivable cerebral ischemic insults. Ann Neurol 2018;83:295-310.

The negative ultraslow potential, electrophysiological correlate of infarction in the human cortex.

Spreading depolarizations are characterized by abrupt, near-complete breakdown of the transmembrane ion gradients, neuronal oedema, mitochondrial depolarization, glutamate excitotoxicity and activity loss (depression). Spreading depolarization induces either transient hyperperfusion in normal tissue; or hypoperfusion (inverse coupling = spreading ischaemia) in tissue at risk for progressive injury. The concept of the spreading depolarization continuum is critical since many spreading depolarizations have intermediate characteristics, as opposed to the two extremes of spreading depolarization in either severely ischaemic or normal tissue. In animals, the spreading depolarization extreme in ischaemic tissue is characterized by prolonged depolarization durations, in addition to a slow baseline variation termed the negative ultraslow potential. The negative ultraslow potential is initiated by spreading depolarization and similar to the negative direct current (DC) shift of prolonged spreading depolarization, but specifically refers to a negative potential component during progressive recruitment of neurons into cell death in the wake of spreading depolarization. We here first quantified the spreading depolarization-initiated negative ultraslow potential in the electrocorticographic DC range and the activity depression in the alternate current range after middle cerebral artery occlusion in rats. Relevance of these variables to the injury was supported by significant correlations with the cortical infarct volume and neurological outcome after 72 h of survival. We then identified negative ultraslow potential-containing clusters of spreading depolarizations in 11 patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage. The human platinum/iridium-recorded negative ultraslow potential showed a tent-like shape. Its amplitude of 45.0 (39.0, 69.4) mV [median (first, third quartile)] was 6.6 times larger and its duration of 3.7 (3.3, 5.3) h was 34.9 times longer than the negative DC shift of spreading depolarizations in less compromised tissue. Using Generalized Estimating Equations applied to a logistic regression model, we found that negative ultraslow potential displaying electrodes were significantly more likely to overlie a developing ischaemic lesion (90.0%, 27/30) than those not displaying a negative ultraslow potential (0.0%, 0/20) (P = 0.004). Based on serial neuroimages, the lesions under the electrodes developed within a time window of 72 (56, 134) h. The negative ultraslow potential occurred in this time window in 9/10 patients. It was often preceded by a spreading depolarization cluster with increasingly persistent spreading depressions and progressively prolonged DC shifts and spreading ischaemias. During the negative ultraslow potential, spreading ischaemia lasted for 40.0 (28.0, 76.5) min, cerebral blood flow fell from 57 (53, 65) % to 26 (16, 42) % (n = 4) and tissue partial pressure of oxygen from 12.5 (9.2, 15.2) to 3.3 (2.4, 7.4) mmHg (n = 5). Our data suggest that the negative ultraslow potential is the electrophysiological correlate of infarction in human cerebral cortex and a neuromonitoring-detected medical emergency.awy102media15775596049001.

Lasting s-ketamine block of spreading depolarizations in subarachnoid hemorrhage: a retrospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: Spreading depolarizations (SD) are characterized by breakdown of transmembrane ion gradients and excitotoxicity. Experimentally, N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) antagonists block a majority of SDs. In many hospitals, the NMDAR antagonist s-ketamine and the GABAA agonist midazolam represent the current second-line combination treatment to sedate patients with devastating cerebral injuries. A pressing clinical question is whether this option should become first-line in sedation-requiring individuals in whom SDs are detected, yet the s-ketamine dose necessary to adequately inhibit SDs is unknown. Moreover, use-dependent tolerance could be a problem for SD inhibition in the clinic. METHODS: We performed a retrospective cohort study of 66 patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) from a prospectively collected database. Thirty-three of 66 patients received s-ketamine during electrocorticographic neuromonitoring of SDs in neurointensive care. The decision to give s-ketamine was dependent on the need for stronger sedation, so it was expected that patients receiving s-ketamine would have a worse clinical outcome. RESULTS: S-ketamine application started 4.2 ± 3.5 days after aSAH. The mean dose was 2.8 ± 1.4 mg/kg body weight (BW)/h and thus higher than the dose recommended for sedation. First, patients were divided according to whether they received s-ketamine at any time or not. No significant difference in SD counts was found between groups (negative binomial model using the SD count per patient as outcome variable, p = 0.288). This most likely resulted from the fact that 368 SDs had already occurred in the s-ketamine group before s-ketamine was given. However, in patients receiving s-ketamine, we found a significant decrease in SD incidence when s-ketamine was started (Poisson model with a random intercept for patient, coefficient - 1.83 (95% confidence intervals - 2.17; - 1.50), p < 0.001; logistic regression model, odds ratio (OR) 0.13 (0.08; 0.19), p < 0.001). Thereafter, data was further divided into low-dose (0.1-2.0 mg/kg BW/h) and high-dose (2.1-7.0 mg/kg/h) segments. High-dose s-ketamine resulted in further significant decrease in SD incidence (Poisson model, - 1.10 (- 1.71; - 0.49), p < 0.001; logistic regression model, OR 0.33 (0.17; 0.63), p < 0.001). There was little evidence of SD tolerance to long-term s-ketamine sedation through 5 days. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide a foundation for a multicenter, neuromonitoring-guided, proof-of-concept trial of ketamine and midazolam as a first-line sedative regime.

All Three Supersystems-Nervous, Vascular, and Immune-Contribute to the Cortical Infarcts After Subarachnoid Hemorrhage.

The recently published DISCHARGE-1 trial supports the observations of earlier autopsy and neuroimaging studies that almost 70% of all focal brain damage after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage are anemic infarcts of the cortex, often also affecting the white matter immediately below. The infarcts are not limited by the usual vascular territories. About two-fifths of the ischemic damage occurs within ~ 48 h; the remaining three-fifths are delayed (within ~ 3 weeks). Using neuromonitoring technology in combination with longitudinal neuroimaging, the entire sequence of both early and delayed cortical infarct development after subarachnoid hemorrhage has recently been recorded in patients. Characteristically, cortical infarcts are caused by acute severe vasospastic events, so-called spreading ischemia, triggered by spontaneously occurring spreading depolarization. In locations where a spreading depolarization passes through, cerebral blood flow can drastically drop within a few seconds and remain suppressed for minutes or even hours, often followed by high-amplitude, sustained hyperemia. In spreading depolarization, neurons lead the event, and the other cells of the neurovascular unit (endothelium, vascular smooth muscle, pericytes, astrocytes, microglia, oligodendrocytes) follow. However, dysregulation in cells of all three supersystems-nervous, vascular, and immune-is very likely involved in the dysfunction of the neurovascular unit underlying spreading ischemia. It is assumed that subarachnoid blood, which lies directly on the cortex and enters the parenchyma via glymphatic channels, triggers these dysregulations. This review discusses the neuroglial, neurovascular, and neuroimmunological dysregulations in the context of spreading depolarization and spreading ischemia as critical elements in the pathogenesis of cortical infarcts after subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Similarities in the Electrographic Patterns of Delayed Cerebral Infarction and Brain Death After Aneurysmal and Traumatic Subarachnoid Hemorrhage.

While subarachnoid hemorrhage is the second most common hemorrhagic stroke in epidemiologic studies, the recent DISCHARGE-1 trial has shown that in reality, three-quarters of focal brain damage after subarachnoid hemorrhage is ischemic. Two-fifths of these ischemic infarctions occur early and three-fifths are delayed. The vast majority are cortical infarcts whose pathomorphology corresponds to anemic infarcts. Therefore, we propose in this review that subarachnoid hemorrhage as an ischemic-hemorrhagic stroke is rather a third, separate entity in addition to purely ischemic or hemorrhagic strokes. Cumulative focal brain damage, determined by neuroimaging after the first 2 weeks, is the strongest known predictor of patient outcome half a year after the initial hemorrhage. Because of the unique ability to implant neuromonitoring probes at the brain surface before stroke onset and to perform longitudinal MRI scans before and after stroke, delayed cerebral ischemia is currently the stroke variant in humans whose pathophysiological details are by far the best characterized. Optoelectrodes located directly over newly developing delayed infarcts have shown that, as mechanistic correlates of infarct development, spreading depolarizations trigger (1) spreading ischemia, (2) severe hypoxia, (3) persistent activity depression, and (4) transition from clustered spreading depolarizations to a negative ultraslow potential. Furthermore, traumatic brain injury and subarachnoid hemorrhage are the second and third most common etiologies of brain death during continued systemic circulation. Here, we use examples to illustrate that although the pathophysiological cascades associated with brain death are global, they closely resemble the local cascades associated with the development of delayed cerebral infarcts.

Duration of spreading depression is the electrophysiological correlate of infarct growth in malignant hemispheric stroke.

Spreading depolarizations (SD) contribute to lesion progression after experimental focal cerebral ischemia while such correlation has never been shown in stroke patients. In this prospective, diagnostic study, we investigate the association of SDs and secondary infarct progression after malignant hemispheric stroke. SDs were continuously monitored for 3-9 days with electrocorticography after decompressive hemicraniectomy for malignant hemispheric stroke. To ensure valid detection and analysis of SDs, a threshold based on the electrocorticographic baseline activity was calculated to identify valid electrocorticographic recordings. Subsequently SD characteristics were analyzed in association to infarct progression based on serial MRI. Overall, 62 patients with a mean stroke volume of 289.6 ± 68 cm3 were included. Valid electrocorticographic recordings were found in 44/62 patients with a mean recording duration of 139.6 ± 26.5 hours and 52.5 ± 39.5 SDs per patient. Infarct progression of more than 5% was found in 21/44 patients. While the number of SDs was similar between patients with and without infarct progression, the SD-induced depression duration per day was significantly longer in patients with infarct progression (593.8 vs. 314.1 minutes; *p = 0.046). Therefore, infarct progression is associated with a prolonged SD-induced depression duration. Real-time analysis of electrocorticographic recordings may identify secondary stroke progression and help implementing targeted management strategies.

Diversity of cortical activity changes beyond depression during Spreading Depolarizations.

Spreading depolarizations (SDs) are classically thought to be associated with spreading depression of cortical activity. Here, we found that SDs in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage produce variable, ranging from depression to booming, changes in electrocorticographic activity, especially in the delta frequency band. In rats, depression of activity was characteristic of high-potassium-induced full SDs, whereas partial superficial SDs caused either little change or a boom of activity at the cortical vertex, supported by volume conduction of signals from spared delta generators in the deep cortical layers. Partial SDs also caused moderate neuronal depolarization and sustained excitation, organized in gamma oscillations in a narrow sub-SD zone. Thus, our study challenges the concept of homology between spreading depolarization and spreading depression by showing that SDs produce variable, from depression to booming, changes in activity at the cortical surface and in different cortical layers depending on the depth of SD penetration.

Spreading depolarization and angiographic spasm are separate mediators of delayed infarcts.

In DISCHARGE-1, a recent Phase III diagnostic trial in aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage patients, spreading depolarization variables were found to be an independent real-time biomarker of delayed cerebral ischaemia. We here investigated based on prospectively collected data from DISCHARGE-1 whether delayed infarcts in the anterior, middle, or posterior cerebral artery territories correlate with (i) extravascular blood volumes; (ii) predefined spreading depolarization variables, or proximal vasospasm assessed by either (iii) digital subtraction angiography or (iv) transcranial Doppler-sonography; and whether spreading depolarizations and/or vasospasm are mediators between extravascular blood and delayed infarcts. Relationships between variable groups were analysed using Spearman correlations in 136 patients. Thereafter, principal component analyses were performed for each variable group. Obtained components were included in path models with a priori defined structure. In the first path model, we only included spreading depolarization variables, as our primary interest was to investigate spreading depolarizations. Standardised path coefficients were 0.22 for the path from extravascular bloodcomponent to depolarizationcomponent (P = 0.010); and 0.44 for the path from depolarizationcomponent to the first principal component of delayed infarct volume (P < 0.001); but only 0.07 for the direct path from bloodcomponent to delayed infarctcomponent (P = 0.36). Thus, the role of spreading depolarizations as a mediator between blood and delayed infarcts was confirmed. In the principal component analysis of extravascular blood volume, intraventricular haemorrhage was not represented in the first component. Therefore, based on the correlation analyses, we also constructed another path model with bloodcomponent without intraventricular haemorrhage as first and intraventricular haemorrhage as second extrinsic variable. We found two paths, one from (subarachnoid) bloodcomponent to delayed infarctcomponent with depolarizationcomponent as mediator (path coefficients from bloodcomponent to depolarizationcomponent = 0.23, P = 0.03; path coefficients from depolarizationcomponent to delayed infarctcomponent = 0.29, P = 0.002), and one from intraventricular haemorrhage to delayed infarctcomponent with angiographic vasospasmcomponent as mediator variable (path coefficients from intraventricular haemorrhage to vasospasmcomponent = 0.24, P = 0.03; path coefficients from vasospasmcomponent to delayed infarctcomponent = 0.35, P < 0.001). Human autopsy studies shaped the hypothesis that blood clots on the cortex surface suffice to cause delayed infarcts beneath the clots. Experimentally, clot-released factors induce cortical spreading depolarizations that trigger (i) neuronal cytotoxic oedema and (ii) spreading ischaemia. The statistical mediator role of spreading depolarization variables between subarachnoid blood volume and delayed infarct volume supports this pathogenetic concept. We did not find that angiographic vasospasm triggers spreading depolarizations, but angiographic vasospasm contributed to delayed infarct volume. This could possibly result from enhancement of spreading depolarization-induced spreading ischaemia by reduced upstream blood supply.

Migraine Aura, Transient Ischemic Attacks, Stroke, and Dying of the Brain Share the Same Key Pathophysiological Process in Neurons Driven by Gibbs-Donnan Forces, Namely Spreading Depolarization.

Neuronal cytotoxic edema is the morphological correlate of the near-complete neuronal battery breakdown called spreading depolarization, or conversely, spreading depolarization is the electrophysiological correlate of the initial, still reversible phase of neuronal cytotoxic edema. Cytotoxic edema and spreading depolarization are thus different modalities of the same process, which represents a metastable universal reference state in the gray matter of the brain close to Gibbs-Donnan equilibrium. Different but merging sections of the spreading-depolarization continuum from short duration waves to intermediate duration waves to terminal waves occur in a plethora of clinical conditions, including migraine aura, ischemic stroke, traumatic brain injury, aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) and delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI), spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage, subdural hematoma, development of brain death, and the dying process during cardio circulatory arrest. Thus, spreading depolarization represents a prime and simultaneously the most neglected pathophysiological process in acute neurology. Aristides Leão postulated as early as the 1940s that the pathophysiological process in neurons underlying migraine aura is of the same nature as the pathophysiological process in neurons that occurs in response to cerebral circulatory arrest, because he assumed that spreading depolarization occurs in both conditions. With this in mind, it is not surprising that patients with migraine with aura have about a twofold increased risk of stroke, as some spreading depolarizations leading to the patient percept of migraine aura could be caused by cerebral ischemia. However, it is in the nature of spreading depolarization that it can have different etiologies and not all spreading depolarizations arise because of ischemia. Spreading depolarization is observed as a negative direct current (DC) shift and associated with different changes in spontaneous brain activity in the alternating current (AC) band of the electrocorticogram. These are non-spreading depression and spreading activity depression and epileptiform activity. The same spreading depolarization wave may be associated with different activity changes in adjacent brain regions. Here, we review the basal mechanism underlying spreading depolarization and the associated activity changes. Using original recordings in animals and patients, we illustrate that the associated changes in spontaneous activity are by no means trivial, but pose unsolved mechanistic puzzles and require proper scientific analysis.

Depth-profile of impairments in endothelin-1 - induced focal cortical ischemia.

The development of ischemic lesions has primarily been studied in horizontal cortical space. However, how ischemic lesions develop through the cortical depth remains largely unknown. We explored this question using direct current coupled recordings at different cortical depths using linear arrays of iridium electrodes in the focal epipial endothelin-1 (ET1) ischemia model in the rat barrel cortex. ET1-induced impairments were characterized by a vertical gradient with (i) rapid suppression of the spontaneous activity in the superficial cortical layers at the onset of ischemia, (ii) compartmentalization of spreading depolarizations (SDs) to the deep layers during progression of ischemia, and (iii) deeper suppression of activity and larger histological lesion size in superficial cortical layers. The level of impairments correlated strongly with the rate of spontaneous activity suppression, the rate of SD onset after ET1 application, and the amplitude of giant negative ultraslow potentials (∼-70 mV), which developed during ET1 application and were similar to the tent-shaped ultraslow potentials observed during focal ischemia in the human cortex. Thus, in the epipial ET1 ischemia model, ischemic lesions develop progressively from the surface to the cortical depth, and early changes in electrical activity at the onset of ET1-induced ischemia reliably predict the severity of ischemic damage.

Less-invasive subdural electrocorticography for investigation of spreading depolarizations in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Introduction: Wyler-strip electrodes for subdural electrocorticography (ECoG) are the gold standard for continuous bed-side monitoring of pathological cortical network events, such as spreading depolarizations (SD) and electrographic seizures. Recently, SD associated parameters were shown to be (1) a marker of early brain damage after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH), (2) the strongest real-time predictor of delayed cerebral ischemia currently known, and (3) the second strongest predictor of patient outcome at 7 months. The strongest predictor of patient outcome at 7 months was focal brain damage segmented on neuroimaging 2 weeks after the initial hemorrhage, whereas the initial focal brain damage was inferior to the SD variables as a predictor for patient outcome. However, the implantation of Wyler-strip electrodes typically requires either a craniotomy or an enlarged burr hole. Neuromonitoring via an enlarged burr hole has been performed in only about 10% of the total patients monitored. Methods: In the present pilot study, we investigated the feasibility of ECoG monitoring via a less invasive burrhole approach using a Spencer-type electrode array, which was implanted subdurally rather than in the depth of the parenchyma. Seven aSAH patients requiring extraventricular drainage (EVD) were included. For electrode placement, the burr hole over which the EVD was simultaneously placed, was used in all cases. After electrode implantation, continuous, direct current (DC)/alternating current (AC)-ECoG monitoring was performed at bedside in our Neurointensive Care unit. ECoGs were analyzed following the recommendations of the Co-Operative Studies on Brain Injury Depolarizations (COSBID). Results: Subdural Spencer-type electrode arrays permitted high-quality ECoG recording. During a cumulative monitoring period of 1,194.5 hours and a median monitoring period of 201.3 (interquartile range: 126.1-209.4) hours per patient, 84 SDs were identified. Numbers of SDs, isoelectric SDs and clustered SDs per recording day, and peak total SD-induced depression duration of a recording day were not significantly different from the previously reported results of the prospective, observational, multicenter, cohort, diagnostic phase III trial, DISCHARGE-1. No adverse events related to electrode implantation were noted. Discussion: In conclusion, our findings support the safety and feasibility of less-invasive subdural electrode implantation for reliable SD-monitoring.

Physiological variables in association with spreading depolarizations in the late phase of ischemic stroke.

Physiological effects of spreading depolarizations (SD) are only well studied in the first hours after experimental stroke. In patients with malignant hemispheric stroke (MHS), monitoring of SDs is restricted to the postoperative ICU stay, typically day 2-7 post-ictus. Therefore, we investigated the role of physiological variables (temperature, intracranial pressure, mean arterial pressure and cerebral perfusion pressure) in relationship to SD during the late phase after MHS in humans. Additionally, an experimental stroke model was used to investigate hemodynamic consequences of SD during this time window. In 60 patients with MHS, the occurrence of 1692 SDs was preceded by a decrease in mean arterial pressure (-1.04 mmHg; p = .02) and cerebral perfusion pressure (-1.04 mmHg; p = .03). Twenty-four hours after middle cerebral artery occlusion in 50 C57Bl6/J mice, hypothermia led to prolonged SD-induced hyperperfusion (+2.8 min; p < .05) whereas hypertension mitigated initial hypoperfusion (-1.4 min and +18.5%Δ rCBF; p < .01). MRI revealed that SDs elicited 24 hours after experimental stroke were associated with lesion progression (15.9 vs. 14.8 mm³; p < .01). These findings of small but significant effects of physiological variables on SDs in the late phase after ischemia support the hypothesis that the impact of SDs may be modified by adjusting physiological variables.

Malignant astrocyte swelling and impaired glutamate clearance drive the expansion of injurious spreading depolarization foci.

Spreading depolarizations (SDs) indicate injury progression and predict worse clinical outcome in acute brain injury. We demonstrate in rodents that acute brain swelling upon cerebral ischemia impairs astroglial glutamate clearance and increases the tissue area invaded by SD. The cytotoxic extracellular glutamate accumulation (>15 µM) predisposes an extensive bulk of tissue (4-5 mm2) for a yet undescribed simultaneous depolarization (SiD). We confirm in rat brain slices exposed to osmotic stress that SiD is the pathological expansion of prior punctual SD foci (0.5-1 mm2), is associated with astrocyte swelling, and triggers oncotic neuron death. The blockade of astrocytic aquaporin-4 channels and Na+/K+/Cl- co-transporters, or volume-regulated anion channels mitigated slice edema, extracellular glutamate accumulation (<10 µM) and SiD occurrence. Reversal of slice swelling by hyperosmotic mannitol counteracted glutamate accumulation and prevented SiD. In contrast, inhibition of glial metabolism or inhibition of astrocyte glutamate transporters reproduced the SiD phenotype. Finally, we show in the rodent water intoxication model of cytotoxic edema that astrocyte swelling and altered astrocyte calcium waves are central in the evolution of SiD. We discuss our results in the light of evidence for SiD in the human cortex. Our results emphasize the need of preventive osmotherapy in acute brain injury.

The role of spreading depolarizations and electrographic seizures in early injury progression of the rat photothrombosis stroke model.

Spreading depolarization (SD) and seizures are pathophysiological events associated with cerebral ischemia. Here, we investigated their role for injury progression in the cerebral cortex. Cerebral ischemia was induced in anesthetized male Wistar rats using the photothrombosis (PT) stroke model. SD and spontaneous neuronal activity were recorded in the presence of either urethane or ketamine/xylazine anesthesia. Blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability, cerebral perfusion, and cellular damage were assessed through a cranial window and repeated intravenous injection of fluorescein sodium salt and propidium iodide until 4 h after PT. Neuronal injury and early lesion volume were quantified by stereological cell counting and manual and automated assessment of ex vivo T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. Onset SDs originated at the thrombotic core and invaded neighboring cortex, whereas delayed SDs often showed opposite propagation patterns. Seizure induction by 4-aminopyridine caused no increase in lesion volume or neuronal injury in urethane-anesthetized animals. Ketamine/xylazine anesthesia was associated with a lower number of onset SDs, reduced lesion volume, and neuronal injury despite a longer duration of seizures. BBB permeability increase inversely correlated with the number of SDs at 3 and 4 h after PT. Our results provide further evidence that ketamine may counteract the early progression of ischemic injury.

Direct electrophysiological evidence that spreading depolarization-induced spreading depression is the pathophysiological correlate of the migraine aura and a review of the spreading depolarization continuum of acute neuronal mass injury.

Spreading depolarization is observed as a large negative shift of the direct current potential, swelling of neuronal somas, and dendritic beading in the brain's gray matter and represents a state of a potentially reversible mass injury. Its hallmark is the abrupt, massive ion translocation between intraneuronal and extracellular compartment that causes water uptake (= cytotoxic edema) and massive glutamate release. Dependent on the tissue's energy status, spreading depolarization can co-occur with different depression or silencing patterns of spontaneous activity. In adequately supplied tissue, spreading depolarization induces spreading depression of activity. In severely ischemic tissue, nonspreading depression of activity precedes spreading depolarization. The depression pattern determines the neurological deficit which is either spreading such as in migraine aura or migraine stroke or nonspreading such as in transient ischemic attack or typical stroke. Although a clinical distinction between spreading and nonspreading focal neurological deficits is useful because they are associated with different probabilities of permanent damage, it is important to note that spreading depolarization, the neuronal injury potential, occurs in all of these conditions. Here, we first review the scientific basis of the continuum of spreading depolarizations. Second, we highlight the transition zone of the continuum from reversibility to irreversibility using clinical cases of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage and cerebral amyloid angiopathy. These illustrate how modern neuroimaging and neuromonitoring technologies increasingly bridge the gap between basic sciences and clinic. For example, we provide direct electrophysiological evidence for the first time that spreading depolarization-induced spreading depression is the pathophysiological correlate of the migraine aura.

Migraine aura, a predictor of near-death experiences in a crowdsourced study.

BACKGROUND: Near-death experiences (NDE) occur with imminent death and in situations of stress and danger but are poorly understood. Evidence suggests that NDE are associated with rapid eye movement (REM) sleep intrusion, a feature of narcolepsy. Previous studies further found REM abnormalities and an increased frequency of dream-enacting behavior in migraine patients, as well as an association between migraine with aura and narcolepsy. We therefore investigated if NDE are more common in people with migraine aura. METHODS: We recruited 1,037 laypeople from 35 countries and five continents, without any filters except for English language and age ≥18 years, via a crowdsourcing platform. Reports were validated using the Greyson NDE Scale. RESULTS: Eighty-one of 1,037 participants had NDE (7.8%; CI [6.3-9.7%]). There were no significant associations between NDE and age (p > 0.6, t-test independent samples) or gender (p > 0.9, Chi-square test). The only significant association was between NDE and migraine aura: 48 (6.1%) of 783 subjects without migraine aura and 33 (13.0%) of 254 subjects with migraine aura had NDE (p < 0.001, odds ratio (OR) = 2.29). In multiple logistic regression analysis, migraine aura remained significant after adjustment for age (p < 0.001, OR = 2.31), gender (p < 0.001, OR = 2.33), or both (p < 0.001, OR = 2.33). CONCLUSIONS: In our sample, migraine aura was a predictor of NDE. This indirectly supports the association between NDE and REM intrusion and might have implications for the understanding of NDE, because a variant of spreading depolarization (SD), terminal SD, occurs in humans at the end of life, while a short-lasting variant of SD is considered the pathophysiological correlate of migraine aura.

Correlates of Spreading Depolarization, Spreading Depression, and Negative Ultraslow Potential in Epidural Versus Subdural Electrocorticography.

Spreading depolarizations (SDs) are characterized by near-complete breakdown of the transmembrane ion gradients, neuronal oedema and activity loss (=depression). The SD extreme in ischemic tissue, termed 'terminal SD,' shows prolonged depolarization, in addition to a slow baseline variation called 'negative ultraslow potential' (NUP). The NUP is the largest bioelectrical signal ever recorded from the human brain and is thought to reflect the progressive recruitment of neurons into death in the wake of SD. However, it is unclear whether the NUP is a field potential or results from contaminating sensitivities of platinum electrodes. In contrast to Ag/AgCl-based electrodes in animals, platinum/iridium electrodes are the gold standard for intracranial direct current (DC) recordings in humans. Here, we investigated the full continuum including short-lasting SDs under normoxia, long-lasting SDs under systemic hypoxia, and terminal SD under severe global ischemia using platinum/iridium electrodes in rats to better understand their recording characteristics. Sensitivities for detecting SDs or NUPs were 100% for both electrode types. Nonetheless, the platinum/iridium-recorded NUP was 10 times smaller in rats than humans. The SD continuum was then further investigated by comparing subdural platinum/iridium and epidural titanium peg electrodes in patients. In seven patients with either aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage or malignant hemispheric stroke, two epidural peg electrodes were placed 10 mm from a subdural strip. We found that 31/67 SDs (46%) on the subdural strip were also detected epidurally. SDs that had longer negative DC shifts and spread more widely across the subdural strip were more likely to be observed in epidural recordings. One patient displayed an SD-initiated NUP while undergoing brain death despite continued circulatory function. The NUP's amplitude was -150 mV subdurally and -67 mV epidurally. This suggests that the human NUP is a bioelectrical field potential rather than an artifact of electrode sensitivity to other factors, since the dura separates the epidural from the subdural compartment and the epidural microenvironment was unlikely changed, given that ventilation, arterial pressure and peripheral oxygen saturation remained constant during the NUP. Our data provide further evidence for the clinical value of invasive electrocorticographic monitoring, highlighting important possibilities as well as limitations of less invasive recording techniques.

Spreading depolarization is not an epiphenomenon but the principal mechanism of the cytotoxic edema in various gray matter structures of the brain during stroke.

Spreading depolarization (SD) is a phenomenon of various cerebral gray matter structures that only occurs under pathological conditions. In the present paper, we summarize the evidence from several decades of research that SD and cytotoxic edema in these structures are largely overlapping terms. SD/cytotoxic edema is a toxic state that - albeit initially reversible - leads eventually to cellular death when it is persistent. Both hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke are among the most prominent causes of SD/cytotoxic edema. SD/cytotoxic edema is the principal mechanism that mediates neuronal death in these conditions. This applies to gray matter structures in both the ischemic core and the penumbra. SD/cytotoxic edema is often a single terminal event in the core whereas, in the penumbra, a cluster of repetitive prolonged SDs is typical. SD/cytotoxic edema also propagates widely into healthy surrounding tissue as short-lasting, relatively harmless events so that regional electrocorticographic monitoring affords even remote detection of ischemic zones. Ischemia cannot only cause SD/cytotoxic edema but it can also be its consequence through inverse neurovascular coupling. Under this condition, ischemia does not start simultaneously in different regions but spreads in the tissue driven by SD/cytotoxic edema-induced microvascular constriction (= spreading ischemia). Spreading ischemia prolongs SD/cytotoxic edema. Thus, it increases the likelihood for the transition from SD/cytotoxic edema into cellular death. Vasogenic edema is the other major type of cerebral edema with relevance to ischemic stroke. It results from opening of the blood-brain barrier. SD/cytotoxic edema and vasogenic edema are distinct processes with important mutual interactions. This article is part of the Special Issue entitled 'Cerebral Ischemia'.