Tommaso Gili1, Neeraj Saxena2, Ana Diukova1, Kevin Murphy1, Judith E. Hall2, Richard G. Wise1
1Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), Cardiff, United Kingdom; 2Section of Anaesthetics, Intensive Care and Pain Medicine, Cardiff University School of Medicine, Cardiff, United Kingdom
We have examined alterations in functional connectivity induced by propofol sedation in a group of healthy volunteers. Large cortical areas (occipital, temporal, frontal and parietal) were used as seed regions for the functional connectivity analysis. While there appeared to be little involvement of the default-mode network in sedation related changes, thalamo-cortical functional connectivity was modified. This is consistent with previous suggestions of altered thalamo-cortical communication in sedation and pharmacologically induced loss of consciousness.