Neural Correlates of Consciousness at Near-Electrocerebral Silence in an Asphyxial Cardiac Arrest Model.
Brain connectivity April 1, 2017 Donald E Lee, Lauren G Lee, Danny Siu et al.
During asphyxial cardiac arrest in rats, the brain's electrical activity passes through four distinct stages before electrocerebral silence. A transient period of near-electrocerebral silence lasting several seconds is linked to a significant increase in frontal coherence between left and right motor cortices, with no corresponding increase in power. This stage also shows a significant posterior shift of electrographic power toward the visual cortices. These distinctive neural features—a burst in frontal coherence and posterior power shift—may be neural correlates of conscious processing in the dying brain.