High-density exploration of activity states in a multi-area brain model
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) May 18, 2023 David Aquilué-Llorens, Jennifer S. Goldman, Alain Destexhe 2 citations preprint
Whole-brain models that simulate neural activity across scales show that spike-frequency adaptation robustly drives synchronized slow-wave activity, a hallmark of unconscious brain states such as sleep and anesthesia. By exploring the parameter space of the TVB-AdEx model using high-performance computing, the authors find that slow-wave occurrence often coincides with a closer alignment between functional and structural brain connectivity. Hyperpolarization can also generate unconscious-like synchronized Up and Down states, potentially explaining how anesthetics work. The model's parameter space reproduces experimentally observed features of sleep and anesthesia.