Speaker
Description
Propofol anesthesia reshapes electroencephalogram (EEG) dynamics, producing prominent slow-delta and alpha oscillations, see \cite{Purdon15}. Biophysical models provide a mechanistic framework for understanding how these rhythms emerge from neuronal interactions. In this work, we implement the biophysical thalamocortical network model of Soplata et al. \cite{Soplata23}, which describes interactions between cortical and thalamic neuron populations underlying these oscillations. Following their approach, we model EEG as the summed activity of cortical pyramidal neurons to generate simulated EEG traces for subsequent power spectral density analysis. While the reproduced model captures anesthesia-related oscillatory dynamics, the simulated spectra reveal differences compared with the spectral features reported in EEG recordings during propofol anesthesia\cite{Purdon13}. In particular, although slow–delta activity emerges as expected when varying parameters associated with anesthetic depth, the increase in alpha-band power typically seen in frontal EEG recordings is not fully reproduced. Instead, the simulated spectra show a shift of spectral power toward higher frequencies above the alpha band, with a peak in the low-beta range. Motivated by this observation, we explore how variations in model parameters influence the resulting spectral structure, aiming to identify parameter regimes that reproduce the alpha-band dominance characteristic of frontal EEG during propofol anesthesia.
Bibliography
@article{Purdon13,
title = {Electroencephalogram signatures of loss and recovery of consciousness from propofol},
volume = {110},
issn = {0027-8424, 1091-6490},
url = {https://pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1221180110},
doi = {10.1073/pnas.1221180110},
language = {en},
number = {12},
urldate = {2026-03-10},
journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences},
author = {Purdon, Patrick L. and Pierce, Eric T. and Mukamel, Eran A. and Prerau, Michael J. and Walsh, John L. and Wong, Kin Foon K. and Salazar-Gomez, Andres F. and Harrell, Priscilla G. and Sampson, Aaron L. and Cimenser, Aylin and Ching, ShiNung and Kopell, Nancy J. and Tavares-Stoeckel, Casie and Habeeb, Kathleen and Merhar, Rebecca and Brown, Emery N.},
month = mar,
year = {2013},
}
@article{Purdon15,
title = {Clinical {Electroencephalography} for {Anesthesiologists}: {Part} {I}: {Background} and {Basic} {Signatures}},
volume = {123},
issn = {0003-3022},
shorttitle = {Clinical {Electroencephalography} for {Anesthesiologists}},
url = {https://journals.lww.com/10.1097/ALN.0000000000000841},
doi = {10.1097/ALN.0000000000000841},
language = {en},
number = {4},
urldate = {2026-03-10},
journal = {Anesthesiology},
author = {Purdon, Patrick L. and Sampson, Aaron and Pavone, Kara J. and Brown, Emery N.},
month = oct,
year = {2015},
pages = {937--960},
}
@article{Soplata23,
title = {Rapid thalamocortical network switching mediated by cortical synchronization underlies propofol-induced {EEG} signatures: a biophysical model},
volume = {130},
issn = {0022-3077, 1522-1598},
shorttitle = {Rapid thalamocortical network switching mediated by cortical synchronization underlies propofol-induced {EEG} signatures},
url = {https://journals.physiology.org/doi/10.1152/jn.00068.2022},
doi = {10.1152/jn.00068.2022},
language = {en},
number = {1},
urldate = {2026-03-10},
journal = {Journal of Neurophysiology},
author = {Soplata, Austin E. and Adam, Elie and Brown, Emery N. and Purdon, Patrick L. and McCarthy, Michelle M. and Kopell, Nancy},
month = jul,
year = {2023},
pages = {86--103},
}
