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The Change of Functional Connectivity Specificity in Rats Under Various Anesthesia Levels and its Neural Origin

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Abstract

Spatiotemporal correlations of spontaneous blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signals measured in the resting brain have been found to imply many resting-state coherent networks under both awake/conscious and anesthetized/unconscious conditions. To understand the resting-state brain networks in the unconscious state, spontaneous BOLD signals from the rat sensorimotor cortex were studied across a wide range of anesthesia levels induced by isoflurane. Distinct resting-state networks covering functionally specific sub-regions of the sensorimotor system were observed under light anesthesia with 1.0 % isoflurane; however, they gradually merged into a highly synchronized and spatially less-specific network under deep anesthesia with 1.8 % isoflurane. The EEG power correlations recorded using three electrodes from a separate group of rats showed similar dependency on anesthesia depth, suggesting the neural origin of the change in functional connectivity specificity. The specific-to-less-specific transition of resting-state networks may reflect a functional reorganization of the brain at different anesthesia levels or brain states.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Ms. Jennifer Taylor for helpful comments. This work was in part supported by NIH Grants: NS041262, NS041262S1, NS057560, NS070839, P41 RR08079, P41 EB015894, P30NS057091 and P30NS076408; and the Keck Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota, 2021 6th St. SE, Minneapoli, MN, 55455, USA

    Xiao Liu, Xiao-Hong Zhu, Yi Zhang & Wei Chen

  2. Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Minnesota, 2021 6th St. SE, Minneapoli, MN, 55455, USA

    Xiao Liu & Wei Chen

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  1. Xiao Liu
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  2. Xiao-Hong Zhu
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  3. Yi Zhang
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Correspondence to Wei Chen.

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Liu, X., Zhu, XH., Zhang, Y. et al. The Change of Functional Connectivity Specificity in Rats Under Various Anesthesia Levels and its Neural Origin. Brain Topogr 26, 363–377 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10548-012-0267-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10548-012-0267-5

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