Xiao Liu1,2, Xiao-Hong Zhu1, Yi
Zhang1, Wei Chen1,2
1CMRR, radiology, University of
Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States; 2Biomedical
Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States
In
this study, we observed that the resting networks covering specific rat
cortical regions under light anesthesia (~1.0% isoflurane) merged into a
nonspecific network covering wider cortical regions with stronger
connectivity under the deep anesthesia (~1.8% isoflurane). This observation
is consistent with a previous electrophysiological study, which demonstrated
that the deeply anesthetized brain showed global and nonselective responses
to external stimuli. They support a new theory in regards to anesthesia: the
deep anesthesia can disrupt the repertoire of neural activity patterns and
thus reduce the information carried by them, even though the information may
still be integrated globally.