# Neuromodulation to restore conscious decision making during seizures

> **NIH NIH R21** · YALE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $209,375

## Abstract

Neuromodulation to restore conscious decision-making during seizures
NIH/NINDS R21 Resubmission
March 5, 2019
Project Summary
Epilepsy, one of the most common neurological disorders, is increasingly recognized as a neural network
disorder. Even localized seizures such as the complex partial or focal impaired awareness seizures (CPS) of
temporal lobe epilepsy are known to cause neurological deficits in functions outside that of the local onset
brain regions. For example, even focal temporal lobe seizures most often induce loss of awareness.
Impaired consciousness in epilepsy has numerous adverse outcomes, including motor vehicle accidents,
injuries, poor work and school performance and social stigmatization. For the more the one-third of epilepsy
patients who are poorly controlled with medications this has a tremendous impact on their quality of life,
morbidity and even mortality. Thus, the development of novel therapeutic techniques to prevent seizures and
ictal loss of consciousness would provide an important new avenue for treatment.
 The long-term objectives of the proposed study are to understand the neural network dynamics that
underlie the global network changes induced by seizures and establish a novel neuromodulatory technique to
treat seizures by restoring consciousness during the ictal and post-ictal periods. This loss of consciousness is
marked by the transition of cortical EEG from that of awake cortex to delta slow waves, which are also seen in
deep sleep, anesthesia and coma. My collaborator, Dr. Hal Blumenfeld, has developed the network inhibition
hypothesis as a mechanism for the ictal loss of consciousness. Working together, we have developed
preliminary data that has identified potential targets for neuromodulation to block the effect of seizures and
restore ictal and post-ictal awareness. We have preliminary data, both published and unpublished,
suggesting that the stimulation of thalamic and brainstem regions of the arousal network can block the typical
seizure related behaviors (freezing, automatisms) that are commonly witnessed during ictal and post-ictal
states.
 However, this novel approach has not been tested in awake behaving animals during active decision
making. These data are required in order to evaluate the effectiveness of this potentially ground-breaking
therapy to restore consciousness during and after seizures. We aim to test our hypothesis by implanting
chronic stimulating and recording electrodes to study the neural network changes, consciousness and
behavioral deficits during seizures and the post-ictal period and the ability of our neuromodulation therapy to
restore active decision making during a behavioral task. In addition, we will evaluate memory function during
the ictal and post-ictal states with and without stimulation. The ultimate goal of this research is to lay the
foundation for a therapeutic clinical trial based on these findings. Our goal will be to translate these findings
through subsequent R0...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10017362
- **Project number:** 5R21NS109874-02
- **Recipient organization:** YALE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Jason Lee Gerrard
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $209,375
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-15 → 2022-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10017362

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10017362, Neuromodulation to restore conscious decision making during seizures (5R21NS109874-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10017362. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*