Specific Versus Nonspecific Connectivity: A Transition of the Resting Network from Light to Deep Anesthesia

Xiao Liu^1,2, Xiao-Hong Zhu¹, Yi Zhang¹, Wei Chen^1,2

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.