# Brain Network Mechanism of Fast and Slow Recoveries in Pharmacologically and Pathologically Induced Unconsciousness

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2022 · $195,000

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
It is not understood why some patients recover from unconsciousness (anesthesia and coma) at a relatively
faster rate while others show prolonged recovery times; or do not recover at all from coma. Traditionally, the
approaches to fill this critical gap in our knowledge has focused on the subcortical nuclei linked to the states of
arousal (sleep, wake, anesthesia), but recent neuroimaging studies suggest that consciousness, rather than
being a product of a localized neural circuit, is likely to be an emergent phenomenon resulting from complex
interactions between spatially and temporally distributed activity of neurons across the brain. Accumulating
evidences suggest that criticality, an optimal balanced state between order and disorder, in the brain presents
highly informative, integrative, and sensitive state such that it has been suggested as a necessary condition for
the emergence of consciousness. We recently demonstrated that the level of consciousness during general
anesthesia correlates with the degree of brain criticality, and similar findings have been reported from other
groups. Therefore, we hypothesize that facilitating the brain networks towards criticality will accelerate the
recovery of consciousness from anesthesia and disorders of consciousness. However, controlling criticality is a
challenging problem and has not been attempted in the brain networks. Using a novel approach, we will apply
explosive synchronization, a phenomenon wherein a small perturbation to a network can lead to an abrupt state
transition through global network synchronization, to control brain criticality. By reconceptualizing the mechanism
of explosive synchronization as a mechanism of criticality transition, we will be able to systematically study fast
and slow transitions in brain criticality and the effect on state transitions. Our long-term goal is to use the
principles of physics to develop neuroscientific foundations for the strategies to accelerate the recovery from
anesthesia and coma. The objective of the proposed studies is to explore explosive synchronization as a
mechanism for the recovery of consciousness. The rationale for the proposed research is that characterization
of the relationship between criticality transition and fast/slow recovery of consciousness will provide insights into
the fundamental network level mechanisms that govern fast and slow state transitions and will also help inform
translational studies aimed at accelerating recovery from unconsciousness. We will pursue the following two
specific aims: 1) Determine the relationship between explosive synchronization in the brain networks and the
recovery of consciousness from anesthesia and coma. We will use computational modeling to identify the brain
network conditions linked to fast and slow state transitions, and test the model predictions using empirical data
from anesthesia (human and rat) and coma (human) studies. 2) Determine the causal effect of chan...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10439895
- **Project number:** 5R21GM143521-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** UnCheol Lee
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $195,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-07-01 → 2024-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10439895

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10439895, Brain Network Mechanism of Fast and Slow Recoveries in Pharmacologically and Pathologically Induced Unconsciousness (5R21GM143521-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10439895. Licensed CC0.

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