IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v9y2018i1d10.1038_s41467-018-06871-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sleep-like cortical OFF-periods disrupt causality and complexity in the brain of unresponsive wakefulness syndrome patients

Author

Listed:
  • M. Rosanova

    (University of Milan
    Fondazione Europea per la Ricerca Biomedica Onlus
    ASTT Grande Ospedale Metropolitano Niguarda)

  • M. Fecchio

    (University of Milan)

  • S. Casarotto

    (University of Milan
    IRCCS Fondazione Don Gnocchi)

  • S. Sarasso

    (University of Milan)

  • A. G. Casali

    (Universidade Federal de São Paulo)

  • A. Pigorini

    (University of Milan)

  • A. Comanducci

    (University of Milan)

  • F. Seregni

    (Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust)

  • G. Devalle

    (IRCCS Fondazione Don Gnocchi)

  • G. Citerio

    (University of Milan Bicocca)

  • O. Bodart

    (University and University Hospital of Liège)

  • M. Boly

    (University of Wisconsin
    University of Wisconsin)

  • O. Gosseries

    (University and University Hospital of Liège)

  • S. Laureys

    (University and University Hospital of Liège)

  • M. Massimini

    (University of Milan
    IRCCS Fondazione Don Gnocchi)

Abstract

Unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (UWS) patients may retain intact portions of the thalamocortical system that are spontaneously active and reactive to sensory stimuli but fail to engage in complex causal interactions, resulting in loss of consciousness. Here, we show that loss of brain complexity after severe injuries is due to a pathological tendency of cortical circuits to fall into silence (OFF-period) upon receiving an input, a behavior typically observed during sleep. Spectral and phase domain analysis of EEG responses to transcranial magnetic stimulation reveals the occurrence of OFF-periods in the cortex of UWS patients (N = 16); these events never occur in healthy awake individuals (N = 20) but are similar to those detected in healthy sleeping subjects (N = 8). Crucially, OFF-periods impair local causal interactions, and prevent the build-up of global complexity in UWS. Our findings link potentially reversible local events to global brain dynamics that are relevant for pathological loss and recovery of consciousness.

Suggested Citation

  • M. Rosanova & M. Fecchio & S. Casarotto & S. Sarasso & A. G. Casali & A. Pigorini & A. Comanducci & F. Seregni & G. Devalle & G. Citerio & O. Bodart & M. Boly & O. Gosseries & S. Laureys & M. Massimin, 2018. "Sleep-like cortical OFF-periods disrupt causality and complexity in the brain of unresponsive wakefulness syndrome patients," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-018-06871-1
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-06871-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-06871-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-018-06871-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sarah L Eagleman & Divya Chander & Christina Reynolds & Nicholas T Ouellette & M Bruce MacIver, 2019. "Nonlinear dynamics captures brain states at different levels of consciousness in patients anesthetized with propofol," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(10), pages 1-26, October.
    2. Minji Lee & Leandro R. D. Sanz & Alice Barra & Audrey Wolff & Jaakko O. Nieminen & Melanie Boly & Mario Rosanova & Silvia Casarotto & Olivier Bodart & Jitka Annen & Aurore Thibaut & Rajanikant Panda &, 2022. "Quantifying arousal and awareness in altered states of consciousness using interpretable deep learning," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-14, December.
    3. Andrea I. Luppi & Lynn Uhrig & Jordy Tasserie & Camilo M. Signorelli & Emmanuel A. Stamatakis & Alain Destexhe & Bechir Jarraya & Rodrigo Cofre, 2024. "Local orchestration of distributed functional patterns supporting loss and restoration of consciousness in the primate brain," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-22, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-018-06871-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.