Consciousness, Anesthesia, and Acetylcholine

Effect of Propofol on Heart Rate and Its Coupling to Cortical Slow Waves in Humans

BACKGROUND

Propofol causes significant cardiovascular depression and a slowing of neurophysiological activity. However, literature on its effect on the heart rate remains mixed, and it is not known whether cortical slow waves are related to cardiac activity in propofol anesthesia.

METHODS

The authors performed a secondary analysis of electrocardiographic and electroencephalographic data collected as part of a previously published study where n = 16 healthy volunteers underwent a slow infusion of propofol up to an estimated effect-site concentration of 4 µg/ml. Heart rate, heart rate variability, and individual slow electroencephalographic waves were extracted for each subject. Timing between slow-wave start and the preceding R-wave was tested against a uniform random surrogate. Heart rate data were further examined as a post hoc analysis in n = 96 members of an American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status II/III older clinical population collected as part of the AlphaMax trial.

RESULTS

The slow propofol infusion increased the heart rate in a dose-dependent manner (mean ± SD, increase of +4.2 ± 1.5 beats/min/[μg ml-1]; P < 0.001). The effect was smaller but still significant in the older clinical population. In healthy volunteers, propofol decreased the electrocardiogram R-wave amplitude (median [25th to 75th percentile], decrease of -83 [-245 to -28] μV; P < 0.001). Heart rate variability showed a loss of high-frequency parasympathetic activity. Individual cortical slow waves were coupled to the heartbeat. Heartbeat incidence peaked about 450 ms before slow-wave onset, and mean slow-wave frequency correlated with mean heart rate.

CONCLUSIONS

The authors observed a robust increase in heart rate with increasing propofol concentrations in healthy volunteers and patients. This was likely due to decreased parasympathetic cardioinhibition. Similar to non-rapid eye movement sleep, cortical slow waves are coupled to the cardiac rhythm, perhaps due to a common brainstem generator.

EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE

Recent advances in the study of anesthesia-and analgesia-related mechanisms of S-ketamine

Ketamine is a racemic mixture of equal amounts of R-ketamine and S-ketamine and is well known to anesthesiologists for its unique dissociative anesthetic properties. The pharmacological properties of ketamine, namely, its sympathetic excitation, mild respiratory depression, and potent analgesia, are still highly valued in its use as an anesthetic for some patients. In particular, since its advent, S-ketamine has been widely used as an anesthetic in many countries due to its increased affinity for NMDA receptors and its enhanced anesthetic and analgesic effects. However, the anesthetic and analgesic mechanisms of S-ketamine are not fully understood. In addition to antagonizing NMDA receptors, a variety of other receptors or channels may be involved, but there are no relevant mechanistic summaries in the literature. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to review the mechanisms of action of S-ketamine on relevant receptors and systems in the body that result in its pharmacological properties, such as anesthesia and analgesia, with the aim of providing a reference for its clinical applications and research.

Rapid thalamocortical network switching mediated by cortical synchronization underlies propofol-induced EEG signatures: a biophysical model

Propofol-mediated unconsciousness elicits strong alpha/low-beta and slow oscillations in the electroencephalogram (EEG) of patients. As anesthetic dose increases, the EEG signal changes in ways that give clues to the level of unconsciousness; the network mechanisms of these changes are only partially understood. Here, we construct a biophysical thalamocortical network involving brain stem influences that reproduces transitions in dynamics seen in the EEG involving the evolution of the power and frequency of alpha/low-beta and slow rhythm, as well as their interactions. Our model suggests that propofol engages thalamic spindle and cortical sleep mechanisms to elicit persistent alpha/low-beta and slow rhythms, respectively. The thalamocortical network fluctuates between two mutually exclusive states on the timescale of seconds. One state is characterized by continuous alpha/low-beta-frequency spiking in thalamus (C-state), whereas in the other, thalamic alpha spiking is interrupted by periods of co-occurring thalamic and cortical silence (I-state). In the I-state, alpha colocalizes to the peak of the slow oscillation; in the C-state, there is a variable relationship between an alpha/beta rhythm and the slow oscillation. The C-state predominates near loss of consciousness; with increasing dose, the proportion of time spent in the I-state increases, recapitulating EEG phenomenology. Cortical synchrony drives the switch to the I-state by changing the nature of the thalamocortical feedback. Brain stem influence on the strength of thalamocortical feedback mediates the amount of cortical synchrony. Our model implicates loss of low-beta, cortical synchrony, and coordinated thalamocortical silent periods as contributing to the unconscious state.NEW & NOTEWORTHY GABAergic anesthetics induce alpha/low-beta and slow oscillations in the EEG, which interact in dose-dependent ways. We constructed a thalamocortical model to investigate how these interdependent oscillations change with propofol dose. We find two dynamic states of thalamocortical coordination, which change on the timescale of seconds and dose-dependently mirror known changes in EEG. Thalamocortical feedback determines the oscillatory coupling and power seen in each state, and this is primarily driven by cortical synchrony and brain stem neuromodulation.