Propofol-induced alpha rhythm. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • The electroencephalographic effects of two intravenous sedative/hypnotic drugs, propofol and thiopental, were studied at three stable blood concentrations in 52 normal healthy volunteers. The higher concentration resulted in unresponsiveness (lack of response to auditory/tactile stimuli) in all subjects. This report describes the strong frontal-central rhythms apparent in this state using a quantitative description of oscillatory systems underlying the rhythm. These rhythms occur when sedative drug concentrations are greater than those producing the well-described increase in broadband beta-power associated with many sedative drugs. Propofol induces rhythms in the alpha-range, while thiopental produces rhythms in the beta-range. Quasistationary for a period of about 1 h, these rhythms exceed the baseline alpha-rhythm in power. By their resonant nature, these propofol-induced rhythms are analogous to 'the classic alpha-rhythm', but quantitative characteristics of the underlying oscillatory systems are different. Baseline properties of the oscillatory system underlying the initial resting alpha-rhythm recover completely as drug concentration decays to negligible values.

publication date

  • January 1, 2004

Research

keywords

  • Alpha Rhythm
  • Anesthetics, Intravenous
  • Propofol
  • Thiopental

Identity

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 4644362027

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1159/000079981

PubMed ID

  • 15365226

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 50

issue

  • 3