Research Hit: New Consciousness Network Identified
New techniques have identified a network that seems essential for wakefulness and may help comatose patients.
Are we talking about big C or small c?
My turn to ask a question: what do you mean big C or small c?
I refer to big C as the big question of consciousness, of being a self aware being, versus small c which could be an aspect of this such as being awake.
Ahh right. You may not know but a big pet peeve of mine is that when we talk of consciousness, including just about all consciousness researchers, we are often speaking of different aspects of consciousness, such as identifying oneself vs. being able to think about thinking vs. simply being responsive.
But back to your question this research is new research into the state of wakefulness (so “small c”) - here particular in comparison to being comatose which I am sure we are all aware becomes a problem for some people who do not awake from their comas. And we don’t know why.
This is actually an important and fundmental question. And this research seems to have found some of the answers.
Now I’m intrigued what did these researchers find then?
Brian Edlow et al. of Massachusetts General Hospital used the latest high MRI scanners to get the highest resolution images possible of subcortical networks. We already know which regions stimulate wakefulness, deep in our brain, the brain stem and connected to other regions.
Being able to do this at increased resolutions meant they could actually identify the network more precisely than has been previously possible. When we’re dealing with such small structures as neuronal pathways this is essential. They combined this with other work such as maps of the connectome (the precise connections between brain cells).
But the result is simply a much clearer mapping of pathways and understanding of this network.
And what does this mean?
Well first off they were better able to identify the Default Brian Network. This is the network that is active when you do nothing - if you just sit there staring into space, your default brain network is active - humming along keeping your brain active. This is also very good for creativity by the way - another story for another day.
Yes, you’ve reported on that before. And what about waking?
This is what they called the “default ascending arousal network” or dAAN. They were able to identify the nodes and connections for this arousal network in the brainstem, hypothalamus, thalamus, and basal forebrain.
And will this help us help those patients who don’t come out of a coma?
Yes, it could well do. They have identified a region - something called the Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA) and specifically a cluster of neurons that release dopamine in this area (VTA is key dopamine producing region). This region is strongly connected to this network. Therefore stimulating this could trigger wakefulness. This is for future research and experimentation.
Wow, so we have found the region that could wake up patients stuck in comas!
Looks like it, but hold your breath while they get to the next stage - implementing this may not be so easy.
But nevertheless good progress?
Yes, another step to understanding our brain and an aspect of consciousness better - and potentially, and hopefully, help for those stuck in a coma.
Reference
Brian L. Edlow, Mark Olchanyi, Holly J. Freeman, et al.
Multimodal MRI reveals brainstem connections that sustain wakefulness in human consciousness.
Science Translational Medicine, 2024; 16 (745)
DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.adj4303