Subsets of cortico-cortical evoked potentials propagate as traveling waves

Emerging evidence suggests that the temporal dynamics of cortico-cortical evoked potentials (CCEPs) may be used to characterize the patterns of information flow between and within brain networks. At present, however, the spatiotemporal dynamics of CCEP propagation cortically and subcortically are incompletely understood. We hypothesized that CCEPs propagate as an evoked traveling wave emanating from the site of stimulation. To elicit CCEPs, we applied single-pulse stimulation to stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG) electrodes implanted in 21 adult patients with intractable epilepsy. For each robust CCEP, we measured the timing of the maximal descent in evoked local field potentials and broadband high-gamma power (70–150 Hz) envelopes relative to the distance between the recording and stimulation contacts using three different metrics (i.e., Euclidean distance, path length, geodesic distance), representing direct, subcortical, and transcortical propagation, respectively. Many evoked responses to single-pulse electrical stimulation appear to propagate as traveling waves (~17–30%), even in the sparsely sampled, three-dimensional SEEG space. These results provide new insights into the spatiotemporal dynamics of CCEP propagation.