Preclinical functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging in rodents has become a vital research tool for observing functional network connectivity at rest or during sensory stimulation. There is an ongoing debate about the differential effects of anesthesia on cortical connectivity, since functional connectivity networks fluctuate depending on global brain state. We analyzed the spontaneous and sensory evoked BOLD signal in rats during different network states induced by Isoflurane and Medetomidine anesthesia, finding them to lead to fundamentally different cortical connectivity. These results are crucial for interpreting rodent studies in the framework of translational resting state research including awake human data.
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