Thalamic deep brain stimulation paradigm to reduce consciousness: Cortico-striatal dynamics implicated in mechanisms of consciousness.
PLoS computational biology July 1, 2022 Michelle J Redinbaugh, Mohsen Afrasiabi, Jessica M Phillips et al.
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the central lateral thalamus in macaques can produce episodes of vacant staring with low-frequency brain oscillations, termed vacant, perturbed consciousness (VPC). The likelihood of VPC depended on stimulation frequency. During VPC, measures of neural complexity and integration decreased, and communication in cortico-striato-thalamic circuits changed substantially, with increased low-frequency power and coherence, especially in thalamo-parietal and cortico-striatal pathways. These features resembled absence epilepsy. The same DBS method, at different frequencies, can also increase consciousness in anesthetized macaques, offering a flexible tool to study consciousness with fewer confounds and to inform clinical research on consciousness disorders.