Biomaterial Database

General anesthesia globally synchronizes activity selectively in layer 5 cortical pyramidal neurons. 2022

Arjun Bharioke, and Martin Munz, and Alexandra Brignall, and Georg Kosche, and Max Ferdinand Eizinger, and Nicole Ledergerber, and Daniel Hillier, and Brigitte Gross-Scherf, and Karl-Klaus Conzelmann, and Emilie Macé, and Botond Roska

Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Department of Ophthalmology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Basel, Switzerland.

General anesthetics induce loss of consciousness, a global change in behavior. However, a corresponding global change in activity in the context of defined cortical cell types has not been identified. Here, we show that spontaneous activity of mouse layer 5 pyramidal neurons, but of no other cortical cell type, becomes consistently synchronized in vivo by different general anesthetics. This heightened neuronal synchrony is aperiodic, present across large distances, and absent in cortical neurons presynaptic to layer 5 pyramidal neurons. During the transition to and from anesthesia, changes in synchrony in layer 5 coincide with the loss and recovery of consciousness. Activity within both apical and basal dendrites is synchronous, but only basal dendrites' activity is temporally locked to somatic activity. Given that layer 5 is a major cortical output, our results suggest that brain-wide synchrony in layer 5 pyramidal neurons may contribute to the loss of consciousness during general anesthesia.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D003712	Dendrites	Extensions of the nerve cell body. They are short and branched and receive stimuli from other NEURONS.	Dendrite
D000768	Anesthesia, General	Procedure in which patients are induced into an unconscious state through use of various medications so that they do not feel pain during surgery.	Anesthesias, General,General Anesthesia,General Anesthesias
D000818	Animals	Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA.	Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D014474	Unconsciousness	Loss of the ability to maintain awareness of self and environment combined with markedly reduced responsiveness to environmental stimuli. (From Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, pp344-5)	Consciousness, Loss of,Unconscious State,Loss of Consciousness,State, Unconscious,Unconscious States
D051379	Mice	The common name for the genus Mus.	Mice, House,Mus,Mus musculus,Mice, Laboratory,Mouse,Mouse, House,Mouse, Laboratory,Mouse, Swiss,Mus domesticus,Mus musculus domesticus,Swiss Mice,House Mice,House Mouse,Laboratory Mice,Laboratory Mouse,Mice, Swiss,Swiss Mouse,domesticus, Mus musculus
D017966	Pyramidal Cells	Projection neurons in the CEREBRAL CORTEX and the HIPPOCAMPUS. Pyramidal cells have a pyramid-shaped soma with the apex and an apical dendrite pointed toward the pial surface and other dendrites and an axon emerging from the base. The axons may have local collaterals but also project outside their cortical region.	Pyramidal Neurons,Cell, Pyramidal,Cells, Pyramidal,Neuron, Pyramidal,Neurons, Pyramidal,Pyramidal Cell,Pyramidal Neuron
D018681	Anesthetics, General	Agents that induce various degrees of analgesia; depression of consciousness, circulation, and respiration; relaxation of skeletal muscle; reduction of reflex activity; and amnesia. There are two types of general anesthetics, inhalation and intravenous. With either type, the arterial concentration of drug required to induce anesthesia varies with the condition of the patient, the desired depth of anesthesia, and the concomitant use of other drugs. (From AMA Drug Evaluations Annual, 1994, p.173)	General Anesthetic,General Anesthetics,Anesthetic, General