Information Integration and Mesoscopic Cortical Connectivity during Propofol Anesthesia

Results: In all cortical regions, and in both wakeful and unconscious states (early and late), the genuine permutation cross mutual information and the percentage of genuine connections decreased with increasing distance, especially up to about 3 cm. The nodal cortical network metrics (the nodal clustering coefficients and nodal efficiency) decreased from wakefulness to unconscious state in the cortical regions we analyzed. In contrast, the global cortical network metrics slightly increased in the early unconscious state (the time span from loss of consciousness to 200 s after loss of consciousness), as compared with wakefulness (normalized average clustering coefficient: 1.05 ± 0.01 vs. 1.06 ± 0.03, P = 0.037; normalized average path length: 1.02 ± 0.01 vs. 1.04 ± 0.01, P = 0.021).

Conclusions: The genuine permutation cross mutual information reflected propofol-induced coupling changes measured at a cortical scale. Loss of consciousness was associated with a redistribution of the pattern of information integration; losing efficient global information transmission capacity but increasing local functional segregation in the cortical network.

Editor’s Perspective:

What We Already Know about This Topic:

• Coupling of neuronal oscillations between brain regions is correlated with higher level brain activity

• Permutation cross mutual information can be used to evaluate information integration in the electroencephalogram during anesthesia.

What This Article Tells Us That Is New:

• Using electrocorticography in subjects anesthetized with propofol, the genuine permutation cross mutual information demonstrated that, with loss of consciousness, there was a loss of efficient global information transmission and increased local functional segregation in the cortical network