Excitatory somatostatin interneurons in the dentate gyrus drive a widespread seizure network in cortical dysplasia

Seizures due to cortical dysplasia are notorious for their poor prognosis even with medications and surgery, likely due to the widespread seizure network. Previous studies have primarily focused on the disruption of dysplastic lesions, rather than remote regions such as the hippocampus. Here, we first quantified the epileptogenicity of the hippocampus in patients with late-stage cortical dysplasia. We further investigated the cellular substrates leading to the epileptic hippocampus, using multiscale tools including calcium imaging, optogenetics, immunohistochemistry and electrophysiology. For the first time, we revealed the role of hippocampal somatostatin-positive interneurons in cortical dysplasia-related seizures. Somatostatin-positive were recruited during cortical dysplasia-related seizures. Interestingly, optogenetic studies suggested that somatostatin-positive interneurons paradoxically facilitated seizure generalization. By contrast, parvalbumin-positive interneurons retained an inhibitory role as in controls. Electrophysiological recordings and immunohistochemical studies revealed glutamate-mediated excitatory transmission from somatostatin-positive interneurons in the dentate gyrus. Taken together, our study reveals a novel role of excitatory somatostatin-positive neurons in the seizure network and brings new insights into the cellular basis of cortical dysplasia.