个体化电生理神经场模型评估意识障碍患者的丘脑皮层功能
Individualised electrophysiological neural field models for the assessment of thalamocortical function in disorders of consciousness: A multicentre study
研究团队将生物物理约束的皮层-丘脑神经场模型拟合到两个独立数据集的高密度 EEG 上，共纳入 203 名 UWS 患者、270 名 MCS 患者和 74 名健康对照，用于评估意识障碍中的丘脑皮层功能。模型可靠复现了不同意识状态的频谱特征，并显示意识障碍患者的皮层-丘脑完整性下降，且 UWS 比 MCS 更明显，支持中环路假说。基于拟合参数逐受试者模拟的 EEG 时间序列也再现了真实记录的复杂度模式，排列熵在真实与模拟序列中均能区分 MCS 与 UWS。该研究为区分最小意识状态与无反应觉醒综合征提供了机制可解释的个体化建模思路。
来源：PLOS Computational Biology · journals.plos.org
by Lín Cóngyǔ, Prejaas Tewarie, Naji L. N. Alnagger, Iván Mindlin, Glenn J. M. Van der Lande, Laouen Belloli, Steven Laureys, Lionel Naccache, Benjamin Rohaut, Aurore Thibaut, Jitka Annen, Olivia Gosseries, Pablo Núñez, Jacobo D. Sitt
Understanding the neural mechanisms underlying disorders of consciousness (DoC) remains a major challenge, particularly in distinguishing limited awareness in minimally conscious state (MCS) and complete unawareness in unresponsive wakefulness syndrome, also coined vegetative state (UWS/VS). In this multicentre study, we fitted a biophysically informed corticothalamic neural field model to high-density EEG data from two large independent datasets, comprising 203 UWS patients, 270 MCS patients and 74 healthy controls. We then used the fitted parameters to simulate EEG time series on a per-subject basis and compared empirical and simulated complexity metrics. The model reliably captured the spectral features across different states of consciousness and revealed reduced corticothalamic integrity in DoC patients that was more pronounced in UWS than in MCS, supporting the mesocircuit hypothesis. Furthermore, the simulated EEG reproduced the complexity patterns of the empirical recordings, with permutation entropy emerging as a sensitive marker capable of distinguishing between MCS and UWS for both real and simulated time series.