Convergent effects of different anesthetics on changes in phase alignment of cortical oscillations.
Alexandra G Bardon, Jesus J Ballesteros, Scott L Brincat, Jefferson E Roy, Meredith Mahnke, Yumiko Ishizawa, Emery N Brown, Earl K. Miller
Cell Reports May 27, 2025 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2025.115685 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Nonhuman primates |
| Interventions | ketamine dexmedetomidine |
| Dose | anesthetic doses |
| Topics | Ketamine |
| Keywords | Cp: neuroscience Anesthesia Consciousness Cortical communication Dexmedetomidine Interhemispheric Neural oscillations Prefrontal cortex Synchrony |
| Citations | 8 |
| Key findings | Both ketamine and dexmedetomidine increase phase locking in the prefrontal cortex, with decreased phase alignment within a hemisphere but increased alignment between homologous areas across hemispheres. |
Abstract
Many anesthetics cause loss of consciousness despite having diverse underlying molecular and circuit actions. To explore the convergent effects of these drugs, we examine how anesthetic doses of ketamine and dexmedetomidine affect bilateral oscillations in the prefrontal cortex of nonhuman primates. Both anesthetics increase phase locking in the ventrolateral and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, within and across hemispheres. However, the nature of the phase locking varies. Neighboring prefrontal subregions within a hemisphere show decreased phase alignment with both drugs. Local analyses within a region suggest that this finding could be explained by broad cortical distance-based effects, such as large traveling waves. In contrast, homologous areas across hemispheres become more aligned in phase. Our results suggest that both anesthetics induce strong patterns of cortical phase alignment that are markedly different from those during waking and that these patterns may be a common feature driving loss of responsiveness from different anesthetic drugs.