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.
Comparable studies
Other preclinical and animal studies on ketamine, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| mTOR-Dependent Synapse Formation Underlies the Rapid Antidepressant Effects of NMDA Antagonists Rats | 2010 | Observational study | |
| Activation of Glutamatergic Neurotransmission by Ketamine: A Novel Step in the Pathway from NMDA Receptor Blockade to Dopaminergic and Cognitive Disruptions Associated with the Prefrontal Cortex Conscious rats | 1997 | Dose-response study with microdialysis and behavioral testing | |
| NMDAR inhibition-independent antidepressant actions of ketamine metabolites Mice | 2016 | Preclinical study | |
| The dissociative anaesthetics, ketamine and phencyclidine, selectively reduce excitation of central mammalian neurones by N‐methyl‐aspartate Spinal neurons in decerebrate or pentobarbitone-anaesthetized cats and rats | 1983 | Experimental study | |
| R-ketamine: a rapid-onset and sustained antidepressant without psychotomimetic side effects Mice | 2015 | Experimental study |
Citations in the library
Cited by 2
Cites 10
- Deep posteromedial cortical rhythm in dissociation Nature September 16, 2020
- General Anesthesia: A Probe to Explore Consciousness Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience August 14, 2019
- Propofol-mediated loss of consciousness disrupts predictive routing and local field phase modulation of neural activity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences October 15, 2024
- A hidden Markov model reliably characterizes ketamine-induced spectral dynamics in macaque local field potentials and human electroencephalograms PLoS Computational Biology August 18, 2021
- A thalamocortical substrate for integrated information via critical synchronous bursting. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences November 14, 2023
and 5 more in the library