Low oxygen levels in the brain, or cerebral anoxia, is a leading cause of death worldwide. Patients who recover from cerebral anoxia deal with persistent neurological issues that worsen their quality of life. Building off previous work showing that brain–heart interactions can predict the severity of symptoms and survival, Diego Candia-Rivera, Sofia Carrion-Falgarona, and colleagues, from the Paris Brain Institute, assessed whether brain–heart interactions in a rat model of severe oxygen loss can predict survival after resuscitation. This work is published in eNeuro.
After near death from oxygen loss, rat brain activity was largely dampened, and heart rate variability was high. Of particular note, heart activity coupled with brain activity in the somatosensory cortex and hippocampus accurately predicted rat survival.
According to the researchers, this work reveals brain–heart interactions that have a relationship with resilience after a near-death episode. The research team hopes these findings will pave the way for work in humans, informing future explorations on predictors in patient populations that can be leveraged as a means of gauging recovery outcomes.
