Open Access

C. Reinicke, Muthuraman Muthuraman, F. Möller, Kidist Gebremariam Mideksa, Abdul Rauf Anwar, R. Pressler, Günther Deuschl, Michael Siniatchkin, Ulrich Stephani, Natia Japaridze

• Burst suppression (B-S): an electroencephalogram (EEG) pattern characterized by the quasiperiodic alternant phases of a high voltage activity (burst) and electrical silence (suppression), is considered as a global state of profound brain inactivation. Burst suppression can occur during different conditions such as early-onset epileptic encephalopathies, hypothermia, general anaesthesia and coma. Biophysical mechanisms underlying this broad range of inactivated brain states are poorly understood. Delta activity during the burst phases was associated with sources in the thalamus and brainstem, as well as bilateral sources in the cortical regions mainly frontal and parietal. Whereas, the suppression phases were associated with coherent sources only in the cortical regions. Results of the RPDC analyses showed an ascending informational flow from the brainstem towards the thalamus and from the thalamus to cortical regions, which was absent during the suppression phases. Our findingsBurst suppression (B-S): an electroencephalogram (EEG) pattern characterized by the quasiperiodic alternant phases of a high voltage activity (burst) and electrical silence (suppression), is considered as a global state of profound brain inactivation. Burst suppression can occur during different conditions such as early-onset epileptic encephalopathies, hypothermia, general anaesthesia and coma. Biophysical mechanisms underlying this broad range of inactivated brain states are poorly understood. Delta activity during the burst phases was associated with sources in the thalamus and brainstem, as well as bilateral sources in the cortical regions mainly frontal and parietal. Whereas, the suppression phases were associated with coherent sources only in the cortical regions. Results of the RPDC analyses showed an ascending informational flow from the brainstem towards the thalamus and from the thalamus to cortical regions, which was absent during the suppression phases. Our findings support the notion that “cortical deafferentation” between the cortex and subcortical structures and desynchronizations exists especially in suppression phases of burst suppression EEG.…