Topiramate Induced Alteration in Frontal Lobe eLORETA-ICA Resting State Network Activity is Associated with Baseline Semantic Fluency Performance

Abstract

Topiramate (TPM) is associated with a high rate of intolerable cognitive side effects that remain poorly understood and difficult to predict clinically. To investigate the underlying brain functions affected by TPM we applied eLORETA-ICA to resting state EEG data from 27 healthy subjects from both no-drug baseline and TPM study visits. Resting state independent component networks (ICs) were visualized and TPM related changes in network activity were identified with nonparametric paired permutation tests. Regression was then performed to associate baseline IC activity to changes in performance on neuropsychological test measures. We identified a subgroup of subjects defined by high baseline semantic fluency (SF) in whom: 1.TPM induced significant changes in prefrontal cortex activity in the high beta and gamma frequency ranges, and 2.baseline IC activity was associated with subsequent worsening in SF performance. This research shows eLORETA-ICA is a viable method of identifying drug-related changes in resting state network activity.