Maolin Qiu1, Ramachandran Ramani2, R. Todd Constable1, 3
1Diagnostic Radiology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States; 2Anesthesiology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States; 3Biomedical Engineering, and Neurosurgery, Yale University
Process-coherence theories have been proposed by anesthesiologists about anesthesia and unconsciousness and they were originally based on clinical observations of neuronal activity in sleep, epileptic, or vegetative patients. It has been difficult to test hypotheses involving disruptions in the coherence of neural activity until very recently with the development of techniques for reliably assessing intrinsic functional connectivity contrast (ICC). We used ICC power to quantify changes in communications between neural networks, upon administration of Propofol, and test the hypothesis of process-coherence theories. Our results demonstrate the enhancement of synchronous oscillations in the DMN in the presence of Propofol, and such increases in synchronous oscillations may be a prerequisite for producing sleepiness and unconsciousness.