RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Neural signatures of loss of consciousness and its recovery by thalamic stimulation
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 806687
DO 10.1101/806687
A1 Jacob A. Donoghue
A1 André M. Bastos
A1 Jorge Yanar
A1 Simon Kornblith
A1 Meredith Mahnke
A1 Emery N. Brown
A1 Earl K. Miller
YR 2019
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/10/17/806687.abstract
AB We know that general anesthesia produces unconsciousness but not quite how. We recorded neural activity from the frontal, parietal, and temporal cortices and thalamus while maintaining unconsciousness in non-human primates (NHPs) with propofol. Unconsciousness was marked by slow frequency (∼1 Hz) oscillations in local field potentials, entraining local spiking to Up states alternating with Down states of little spiking, and decreased higher frequency (>4 Hz) coherence. The thalamus contributed to cortical rhythms. Its stimulation “awakened” anesthetized NHPs and reversed the electrophysiologic features of unconsciousness. Unconsciousness thus resulted from slow frequency hypersynchrony and loss of high-frequency dynamics, partly mediated by the thalamus, that disrupts cortical communication/integration.