Skip to main content
  • Submit
  • About
    • Editorial Board
    • PNAS Staff
    • FAQ
    • Rights and Permissions
    • Site Map
  • Contact
  • Journal Club
  • Subscribe
    • Subscription Rates
    • Subscriptions FAQ
    • Open Access
    • Recommend PNAS to Your Librarian
  • Log in
  • My Cart

Main menu

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Current
    • Latest Articles
    • Special Features
    • Colloquia
    • Collected Articles
    • PNAS Classics
    • Archive
  • Front Matter
  • News
    • For the Press
    • Highlights from Latest Articles
    • PNAS in the News
  • Podcasts
  • Authors
    • Information for Authors
    • Purpose and Scope
    • Editorial and Journal Policies
    • Submission Procedures
    • For Reviewers
    • Author FAQ
  • Submit
  • About
    • Editorial Board
    • PNAS Staff
    • FAQ
    • Rights and Permissions
    • Site Map
  • Contact
  • Journal Club
  • Subscribe
    • Subscription Rates
    • Subscriptions FAQ
    • Open Access
    • Recommend PNAS to Your Librarian

User menu

  • Log in
  • My Cart

Search

  • Advanced search
Home
Home

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Current
    • Latest Articles
    • Special Features
    • Colloquia
    • Collected Articles
    • PNAS Classics
    • Archive
  • Front Matter
  • News
    • For the Press
    • Highlights from Latest Articles
    • PNAS in the News
  • Podcasts
  • Authors
    • Information for Authors
    • Purpose and Scope
    • Editorial and Journal Policies
    • Submission Procedures
    • For Reviewers
    • Author FAQ

New Research In

Physical Sciences

Featured Portals

  • Physics
  • Chemistry
  • Sustainability Science

Articles by Topic

  • Applied Mathematics
  • Applied Physical Sciences
  • Astronomy
  • Computer Sciences
  • Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
  • Engineering
  • Environmental Sciences
  • Mathematics
  • Statistics

Social Sciences

Featured Portals

  • Anthropology
  • Sustainability Science

Articles by Topic

  • Economic Sciences
  • Environmental Sciences
  • Political Sciences
  • Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
  • Social Sciences

Biological Sciences

Featured Portals

  • Sustainability Science

Articles by Topic

  • Agricultural Sciences
  • Anthropology
  • Applied Biological Sciences
  • Biochemistry
  • Biophysics and Computational Biology
  • Cell Biology
  • Developmental Biology
  • Ecology
  • Environmental Sciences
  • Evolution
  • Genetics
  • Immunology and Inflammation
  • Medical Sciences
  • Microbiology
  • Neuroscience
  • Pharmacology
  • Physiology
  • Plant Biology
  • Population Biology
  • Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
  • Sustainability Science
  • Systems Biology

Surge of neurophysiological coherence and connectivity in the dying brain

Jimo Borjigin, UnCheol Lee, Tiecheng Liu, Dinesh Pal, Sean Huff, Daniel Klarr, Jennifer Sloboda, Jason Hernandez, Michael M. Wang, and George A. Mashour
PNAS published ahead of print August 12, 2013 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1308285110
Jimo Borjigin
Departments of aMolecular and Integrative Physiology,bNeurology, andcNeuroscience Graduate Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109; and
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: borjigin@umich.edu
UnCheol Lee
dAnesthesiology, and
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Tiecheng Liu
Departments of aMolecular and Integrative Physiology,
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Dinesh Pal
dAnesthesiology, and
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Sean Huff
Departments of aMolecular and Integrative Physiology,
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Daniel Klarr
dAnesthesiology, and
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Jennifer Sloboda
Departments of aMolecular and Integrative Physiology,
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Jason Hernandez
Departments of aMolecular and Integrative Physiology,
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Michael M. Wang
Departments of aMolecular and Integrative Physiology,bNeurology, andcNeuroscience Graduate Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109; andeVeterans Administration, Ann Arbor, MI 48105
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
George A. Mashour
cNeuroscience Graduate Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109; anddAnesthesiology, and
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  1. Edited by Solomon H. Snyder, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, and approved July 9, 2013 (received for review May 2, 2013)

See related content:

  • Reply to Chawla and Seneff: Near-death electrical brain activity in humans and animals requires additional studies
    - Oct 29, 2013
  • Reply to Greyson et al.: Experimental evidence lays a foundation for a rational understanding of near-death experiences
    - Nov 19, 2013

This article has a reply. Please see:

  • End-of-life electrical surges
  • Surge of neurophysiological activity in the dying brain
  • Article
  • Figures & SI
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

Abstract

The brain is assumed to be hypoactive during cardiac arrest. However, the neurophysiological state of the brain immediately following cardiac arrest has not been systematically investigated. In this study, we performed continuous electroencephalography in rats undergoing experimental cardiac arrest and analyzed changes in power density, coherence, directed connectivity, and cross-frequency coupling. We identified a transient surge of synchronous gamma oscillations that occurred within the first 30 s after cardiac arrest and preceded isoelectric electroencephalogram. Gamma oscillations during cardiac arrest were global and highly coherent; moreover, this frequency band exhibited a striking increase in anterior–posterior-directed connectivity and tight phase-coupling to both theta and alpha waves. High-frequency neurophysiological activity in the near-death state exceeded levels found during the conscious waking state. These data demonstrate that the mammalian brain can, albeit paradoxically, generate neural correlates of heightened conscious processing at near-death.

  • global ischemia
  • global hypoxia
  • near-death experience
  • consciousness

Footnotes

  • ↵1J.B. and U.L. contributed equally to this work.

  • ↵2To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: borjigin{at}umich.edu.
  • Author contributions: J.B. and M.M.W. conceived the idea of the project; J.B. and G.A.M. designed experiments; J.B., U.L., and G.A.M. planned analysis; T.L. and D.P. performed electrode implantation; J.B., T.L., D.P., S.H., and D.K. collected data; U.L. wrote analysis programs; J.B., U.L., J.S., J.H., and G.A.M. analyzed data; and J.B., U.L., M.M.W., and G.A.M. wrote the paper.

  • The authors declare no conflict of interest.

  • This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.

  • This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1308285110/-/DCSupplemental.

Next
Back to top
Article Alerts
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on PNAS.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Surge of neurophysiological coherence and connectivity in the dying brain
(Your Name) has sent you a message from PNAS
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the PNAS web site.
Citation Tools
Brain activity surges at near-death
Jimo Borjigin, UnCheol Lee, Tiecheng Liu, Dinesh Pal, Sean Huff, Daniel Klarr, Jennifer Sloboda, Jason Hernandez, Michael M. Wang, George A. Mashour
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Aug 2013, 201308285; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1308285110

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Request Permissions
Share
Brain activity surges at near-death
Jimo Borjigin, UnCheol Lee, Tiecheng Liu, Dinesh Pal, Sean Huff, Daniel Klarr, Jennifer Sloboda, Jason Hernandez, Michael M. Wang, George A. Mashour
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Aug 2013, 201308285; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1308285110
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Mendeley logo Mendeley
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: 116 (7)
Current Issue

Submit

Sign up for Article Alerts

Jump to section

  • Article
  • Figures & SI
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF

You May Also be Interested in

Several aspects of the proposal, which aims to expand open access, require serious discussion and, in some cases, a rethink.
Opinion: “Plan S” falls short for society publishers—and for the researchers they serve
Several aspects of the proposal, which aims to expand open access, require serious discussion and, in some cases, a rethink.
Image credit: Dave Cutler (artist).
Several large or long-lived animals seem strangely resistant to developing cancer. Elucidating the reasons why could lead to promising cancer-fighting strategies in humans.
Core Concept: Solving Peto’s Paradox to better understand cancer
Several large or long-lived animals seem strangely resistant to developing cancer. Elucidating the reasons why could lead to promising cancer-fighting strategies in humans.
Image credit: Shutterstock.com/ronnybas frimages.
Featured Profile
PNAS Profile of NAS member and biochemist Hao Wu
 Nonmonogamous strawberry poison frog (Oophaga pumilio).  Image courtesy of Yusan Yang (University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh).
Putative signature of monogamy
A study suggests a putative gene-expression hallmark common to monogamous male vertebrates of some species, namely cichlid fishes, dendrobatid frogs, passeroid songbirds, common voles, and deer mice, and identifies 24 candidate genes potentially associated with monogamy.
Image courtesy of Yusan Yang (University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh).
Active lifestyles. Image courtesy of Pixabay/MabelAmber.
Meaningful life tied to healthy aging
Physical and social well-being in old age are linked to self-assessments of life worth, and a spectrum of behavioral, economic, health, and social variables may influence whether aging individuals believe they are leading meaningful lives.
Image courtesy of Pixabay/MabelAmber.

More Articles of This Classification

Biological Sciences

  • Structural basis for activity of TRIC counter-ion channels in calcium release
  • PGC1A regulates the IRS1:IRS2 ratio during fasting to influence hepatic metabolism downstream of insulin
  • Altered neural odometry in the vertical dimension
Show more

Neuroscience

  • Altered neural odometry in the vertical dimension
  • Insulin signaling in the hippocampus and amygdala regulates metabolism and neurobehavior
  • Inositol polyphosphate multikinase mediates extinction of fear memory
Show more

Related Content

  • Limits of BIS scoring in patients at near death
  • End-of-life electrical surges
  • Providing a scientific framework for NDE
  • Surge of activity in the dying brain
  • Scopus
  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited by...

  • Unusual perceptions at the end of life: limitations to the diagnosis of hallucinations in palliative medicine
  • Dynamics of Propofol-Induced Loss of Consciousness Across Primate Neocortex
  • Asphyxia-activated corticocardiac signaling accelerates onset of cardiac arrest
  • Surge of neurophysiological activity in the dying brain
  • Reply to Greyson et al.: Experimental evidence lays a foundation for a rational understanding of near-death experiences
  • End-of-life electrical surges
  • Reply to Chawla and Seneff: Near-death electrical brain activity in humans and animals requires additional studies
  • Scopus (65)
  • Google Scholar

Similar Articles

Site Logo
Powered by HighWire
  • Submit Manuscript
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • RSS Feeds
  • Email Alerts

Articles

  • Current Issue
  • Latest Articles
  • Archive

PNAS Portals

  • Classics
  • Front Matter
  • Teaching Resources
  • Anthropology
  • Chemistry
  • Physics
  • Sustainability Science

Information

  • Authors
  • Editorial Board
  • Reviewers
  • Press
  • Site Map

Feedback    Privacy/Legal

Copyright © 2019 National Academy of Sciences. Online ISSN 1091-6490