Deep brain stimulation of the thalamus restores signatures of consciousness in a nonhuman primate model.

ABSTRACT: Loss of consciousness is associated with the disruption of long-range thalamocortical and corticocortical brain communication. We tested the hypothesis that deep brain stimulation (DBS) of central thalamus might restore both arousal and awareness following consciousness loss. We applied anesthesia to suppress consciousness in nonhuman primates. During anesthesia, central thalamic stimulation induced arousal in an on-off manner and increased functional magnetic resonance imaging activity in prefrontal, parietal, and cingulate cortices. Moreover, DBS restored a broad dynamic repertoire of spontaneous resting-state activity, previously described as a signature of consciousness. None of these effects were obtained during the stimulation of a control site in the ventrolateral thalamus. Last, DB

SUBMITTER: Tasserie J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8932660 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature