Understanding the physical mechanism of transition to epileptic seizures

► The occurrence of seizures is a rare event generated by a dysfunction of neuronal activity in the epileptogenic region. ► The dysfunctional regulation alters endogenous electric field, changes relevant characteristics of charge dynamics and leads to seizure generation. ► The transition is generated in absence of neuronal activity, low firing rate in epileptogenic region that maintains chaotic dynamic regime. ► The alteration in regulation can be modeled by perturbed Hamiltonian systems with many degrees of freedom. ► Kolmogorov Arnold Moser (KAM) theory and its extensions can provide a physical model of transition to seizure. ► Understanding the physical mechanism is required to predict, stop an imminent seizure and to provide an adequate treatment by neuromodulation.