Functional switching among dynamic neuronal hub-nodes in the brain induces transition of cognitive states

TL;DR

This study investigates how dynamic changes in brain network hub nodes, especially in the frontal and occipital regions, facilitate transitions between waking and sleep states in rats using EEG analysis.

Contribution

It introduces a novel analysis of EEG-based network topology to understand the role of hub-node switching in cognitive state transitions.

Findings

Decreased hub-nodes during NREMS indicate functional disconnection.

Switching ratio of hub/non-hub nodes varies during state transitions.

Multifractal analysis shows higher complexity in vigilance state-transitions.

Abstract

The cognitive states have broadly been divided into waking, rapid eye movement sleep and non-REMS. Although the mechanism of state transition is unknown, it has been proposed that functional activation/deactivation among different brain regions leads to such transition. As analysis of electroencephalogram allows us exploring properties and association among brain regions, we exploited it to address our query. We have recorded the frontal and occipital cortical EEG from surgically prepared chronic freely moving, normally behaving rats and classified their vigilance states and vigilance state-transitions. The complexity analysis carried out by computing multifractal spectrum width categorized VST as highly non-linear and complex than their participating vigilance states. The EEG signals were decomposed into frequency ranges as that of classical human Delta, Theta, Alpha, Beta and Gamma oscillations. The dynamic network attributes of these oscillations has shown compelling topological correlation between the frontal and occipital regions of the brain during conscious states. The topological trends of the underlying hierarchical network organization have been characterized by the percentage of the hub and non-hub nodes, that further determines the global and local connectivity trends. This has revealed interesting insights of functional disconnection during NREMS due to decrease in their number of hub-nodes as compared to waking state. There is also switching behaviour in the ratio of hub/non-hub nodes between frontal and occipital region during NREMS-Wake and Wake-NREMS transitions. Our findings provide support as proof-of-principle of functional regional inactivation or activation of hub-nodes as the gradual switching mechanism towards transitioning of cognitive states in a graded manner, wake to sleep or vice versa; the detailed neuro-physio-chemical mechanism needs further study.