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Propofol Induction Reduces the Capacity for Neural Information Integration: Implications for the Mechanism of Consciousness and General Anesthesia

UnCheol Lee¹, Seunghwan Kim², Gyu-Jeong Noh³, Byung-Moon Choi⁴ & George A. Mashour⁵

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1. Post-Doctoral Fellow, Department of Anesthesiology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0048, U.S.A.
2. Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics&Nonlinear Complex Systems Laboratory, National Core Research Center on System Biodynamics, Department of Physics, POSTECH
3. Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine
4. Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, National Medical Center
5. Assistant Professor, Departments of Anesthesiology and Neurosurgery, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0048, U.S.A.

DOC (1.1 MB) PDF (588.5 KB)

Document Type:

Manuscript

Date:

Received 13 November 2008 18:07 UTC; Posted 20 November 2008

Subjects:

Neuroscience

Tags:

• consciousness,
• Anesthesia,
• Propofol,
• Information
• integration
• theory,
• EEG,
• cognitive
• unbinding,
• Spatiotemporal
• organization
• of
• Gamma
• Band.

Abstract:

The cognitive unbinding paradigm suggests that the synthesis of cognitive information is attenuated by general anesthesia. Here, we investigated the functional organization of brain activities in the conscious and anesthetized states, based on characteristic functional segregation and integration of electroencephalography (EEG). EEG recordings were obtained from 14 subjects undergoing induction of general anesthesia with propofol. We quantified changes in mean information integration capacity in each band of the EEG. After induction with propofol, mean information integration capacity was reduced most prominently in the gamma band of the EEG (p=0.0001). Furthermore, we demonstrate that loss of consciousness is reflected by the breakdown of the spatiotemporal organization of gamma waves. Induction of general anesthesia with propofol reduces the capacity for information integration in the brain. These data directly support the information integration theory of consciousness and the cognitive unbinding paradigm of general anesthesia.

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License:

This document is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License

How to cite this document:

Lee, UnCheol , Kim, Seunghwan, Noh, Gyu-Jeong, Choi, Byung-Moon, and Mashour, George A.. Propofol Induction Reduces the Capacity for Neural Information Integration: Implications for the Mechanism of Consciousness and General Anesthesia. Available from Nature Precedings <http://hdl.handle.net/10101/npre.2008.1244.2> (2008)

Version info:

Published version:

http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/622810/description#description (Peer Reviewed) This preprint is an old version. The new version of this is accepted to "Consciousness and Cognition" in November 2008, with title "Propofol Induction Reduces the Capacity for Neural Information Integration: Implications for the Mechanism of Consciousness and General Anesthesia".

Other versions of this document in Nature Precedings

Version number	Document title	Date
v1	Posted 24 October 2007

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