Health & Medicine
Scientists Discover Never-Before-Detected Brain Activity in Coma Patient
Catherine Griffin
First Posted: Sep 19, 2013 09:20 AM EDT
Coma patients may have a type of brain activity that researchers were previously unaware of. A human patient in an extreme hypoxic coma under powerful anti-epileptic medication has demonstrated cerebral activity that has been unknown until now. The findings reveal that there may be a whole new frontier when it comes to animal and human brain functioning.
"Dr. Bogdan Florea from Romania contacted our research team because he had observed unexplainable phenomena on the EEG of a coma patient," said Florin Amzica, one of the researchers, in a news release. "We realized that there was cerebral activity, unknown until now, in the patient's brain."
This brain activity intrigued the researchers. In order to learn a bit more about it, they decided to recreate the patient's state in cats. Using the anesthetic isoflurane, they placed the cats in a very deep, but reversible, coma. The cats passed the flat EEG line, which is associated with silence in the cortex, the governing part of the brain.
What did they find? Surprisingly, the researchers saw cerebral activity in all of the cats in the deep coma in the form of oscillations generated in the hippocampus. This part of the brain is responsible for memory and learning processes. The oscillations, unknown until now, were transmitted to the cortex. These observed EEG waves, called Nu-complexes, were most likely the same as the ones observed in the human patient.
That's not to say that the new findings change whether or not a person is brain dead, though. The researchers were quick to point out that the current policies regarding brain death are still in place.
"Those who have decided to or have to 'unplug' a near-brain-dead relative needn't worry or doubt their doctor," said Amzica in a news release. "The current criteria for diagnosing brain death are extremely stringent. Our finding may perhaps in the long term lead to a redefinition of the criteria, but we are far from that. Moreover, this is not the most important or useful aspect of our study."
The most important aspect of the study, it turns out, is the fact that it could have implications for therapy in the future. After serious injury, for example, patients are sometimes intentionally placed in an artificial coma for recovery. The type of coma a patient is placed under, though, could have all the difference when it comes to the future health of the patient.
"Indeed, an organ or muscle that remains inactive for a long time eventually atrophies," said Amzica. "It is plausible that the same applies to a brain kept for an extended period in a state corresponding to a flat EEG. Research on the effects of extreme deep coma during which the hippocampus is active, though Nu-complexes, is absolutely vital for the benefit of patients."
The findings are published in the journal PLOS One.
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First Posted: Sep 19, 2013 09:20 AM EDT
Coma patients may have a type of brain activity that researchers were previously unaware of. A human patient in an extreme hypoxic coma under powerful anti-epileptic medication has demonstrated cerebral activity that has been unknown until now. The findings reveal that there may be a whole new frontier when it comes to animal and human brain functioning.
"Dr. Bogdan Florea from Romania contacted our research team because he had observed unexplainable phenomena on the EEG of a coma patient," said Florin Amzica, one of the researchers, in a news release. "We realized that there was cerebral activity, unknown until now, in the patient's brain."
This brain activity intrigued the researchers. In order to learn a bit more about it, they decided to recreate the patient's state in cats. Using the anesthetic isoflurane, they placed the cats in a very deep, but reversible, coma. The cats passed the flat EEG line, which is associated with silence in the cortex, the governing part of the brain.
What did they find? Surprisingly, the researchers saw cerebral activity in all of the cats in the deep coma in the form of oscillations generated in the hippocampus. This part of the brain is responsible for memory and learning processes. The oscillations, unknown until now, were transmitted to the cortex. These observed EEG waves, called Nu-complexes, were most likely the same as the ones observed in the human patient.
That's not to say that the new findings change whether or not a person is brain dead, though. The researchers were quick to point out that the current policies regarding brain death are still in place.
"Those who have decided to or have to 'unplug' a near-brain-dead relative needn't worry or doubt their doctor," said Amzica in a news release. "The current criteria for diagnosing brain death are extremely stringent. Our finding may perhaps in the long term lead to a redefinition of the criteria, but we are far from that. Moreover, this is not the most important or useful aspect of our study."
The most important aspect of the study, it turns out, is the fact that it could have implications for therapy in the future. After serious injury, for example, patients are sometimes intentionally placed in an artificial coma for recovery. The type of coma a patient is placed under, though, could have all the difference when it comes to the future health of the patient.
"Indeed, an organ or muscle that remains inactive for a long time eventually atrophies," said Amzica. "It is plausible that the same applies to a brain kept for an extended period in a state corresponding to a flat EEG. Research on the effects of extreme deep coma during which the hippocampus is active, though Nu-complexes, is absolutely vital for the benefit of patients."
The findings are published in the journal PLOS One.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone