Propofol Mediated Unconsciousness Disrupts Progression of Sensory Signals through the Cortical Hierarchy

Abstract

A critical component of anesthesia is the loss sensory perception. Propofol is the most widely used drug for general anesthesia, but the neural mechanisms of how and when it disrupts sensory processing are not fully understood. We analyzed local field potential (LFP) and spiking recorded from Utah arrays in auditory cortex, associative cortex, and cognitive cortex of non-human primates before and during propofol mediated unconsciousness. Sensory stimuli elicited robust and decodable stimulus responses and triggered periods of stimulus-induced coherence between brain areas in the LFP of awake animals. By contrast, propofol mediated unconsciousness eliminated stimulus-induced coherence and drastically weakened stimulus responses and information in all brain areas except for auditory cortex, where responses and information persisted. However, we found stimuli occurring during spiking Up states triggered weaker spiking responses than in awake animals in auditory cortex, and little or no spiking responses in higher order areas. These results suggest that propofol’s effect on sensory processing is not just due to asynchronous down states. Rather, both Down states and Up states reflect disrupted dynamics.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Jun 27, 2023
Source ID
10.1101/2023.06.25.546463

Entities

People

  • Earl K. Miller
  • Emery Brown
  • Emily P Stephen
  • Jacob A. Donaghue
  • John Tauber
  • Leo Kozachkov
  • Scott L Brincat

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Biology
  • Psychology

Readers

  • Neuroscience
  • Neurotoxicology