Hierarchical rhythmic propagation of corticothalamic interactions for consciousness: A computational study.

A computational model of an extended corticothalamic network simulates how different concentrations of propofol alter states of consciousness. The model shows that oscillation spread across the cortex moves from posterior to anterior brain regions in four sequential stages, driven by differences in connections between regions. This suggests that hierarchical rhythm propagation depends on the heterogeneity of inter-regional connectivity. The model provides a millisecond-resolution simulation platform for studying how brain areas coordinate activity during consciousness and how anesthetics affect brain regions.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Clarifying the mechanisms of loss and recovery of consciousness in the brain is a major challenge in neuroscience, and research on the spatiotemporal organization of rhythms at the brain region scale at different levels of consciousness remains scarce. By applying computational neuroscience, an extended corticothalamic network model was developed in this study to simulate the altered states of consciousness induced by different concentration levels of propofol. The cortex area containing oscillation spread from posterior to anterior in four successive time stages, defining four groups of brain regions. A quantitative analysis showed that hierarchical rhythm propagation was mainly due to heterogeneity in the inter-brain region connections. These results indicate that the proposed model is an anatomically data-driven testbed and a simulation platform with millisecond resolution. It facilitates understanding of activity coordination across multiple areas of the conscious brain and the mechanisms of action of anesthetics in terms of brain regions.