Losing brain networks during death

Abstract Death represents the end of all living organisms. The pattern of brain activity disappearance following death, however, has not been fully elucidated. Here we investigated brain activity dynamics following cardiac arrest using ultra‐high field 11.7 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in longitudinal approach and multi‐modal analyses. Initially, the functional connectivity (FC) analysis revealed a non‐linear trajectory of whole‐brain network disassembly. Subsequently, through dynamic FC analysis, we identified two discrete FC patterns in the whole brain that showed opposite changes from life to death, representing the dissipation process of local brain function specificity. In addition, the default mode network (DMN), sensorimotor network (SMN), and interoceptive network (IN) were identified during the live stage by independent component analysis. However, results of dynamic functional network connectivity analysis showed that SMN and IN preferentially disappeared after cardiopulmonary arrest, which is the critical turning point of death. Notably, the surviving DMN showed a decreased spatial map but stronger FC with the right dorsolateral thalamus, retrosplenial cortex, and corpus callosum during the near‐death stage. This suggests that DMN may be the final regulator of systemic brain shutdown. This study aims to address the limited understanding of brain function changes during death from an imaging perspective and provides inspirations for the definition of death and the inference of death time.

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Publication Details

Journal
Interdisciplinary medicine
Published
2025-05-26
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/inmd.20250068
Primary Topic
Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Losing brain networks during death

Huichun Luo, Xu‐Yun Hua, Bofeng Zhu, Di Wen et al.
Interdisciplinary medicine
Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
article

Losing brain networks during death

Huichun Luo, Xu‐Yun Hua, Bofeng Zhu, Di Wen, Ti‐Fei Yuan, Luyang Tao, Yue Du, Zhongbin Su, Chengtao Li, Taicheng Huang, Jian‐Guang Xu, Binglei Zhao, Yun‐Ting Xiang, Jie Weng, Xiaona Zhu, Xiao Li, Yi Zhang, Wang Xuemin, Han Li, Yimeng Liu, Jinjun Ding, Xu Wu, R Ren
article en

Abstract

Abstract Death represents the end of all living organisms. The pattern of brain activity disappearance following death, however, has not been fully elucidated. Here we investigated brain activity dynamics following cardiac arrest using ultra‐high field 11.7 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in longitudinal approach and multi‐modal analyses. Initially, the functional connectivity (FC) analysis revealed a non‐linear trajectory of whole‐brain network disassembly. Subsequently, through dynamic FC analysis, we identified two discrete FC patterns in the whole brain that showed opposite changes from life to death, representing the dissipation process of local brain function specificity. In addition, the default mode network (DMN), sensorimotor network (SMN), and interoceptive network (IN) were identified during the live stage by independent component analysis. However, results of dynamic functional network connectivity analysis showed that SMN and IN preferentially disappeared after cardiopulmonary arrest, which is the critical turning point of death. Notably, the surviving DMN showed a decreased spatial map but stronger FC with the right dorsolateral thalamus, retrosplenial cortex, and corpus callosum during the near‐death stage. This suggests that DMN may be the final regulator of systemic brain shutdown. This study aims to address the limited understanding of brain function changes during death from an imaging perspective and provides inspirations for the definition of death and the inference of death time.

Interdisciplinary medicineVol. 3(4)
Hebei Medical University (CN), Shanghai Jiao Tong University (CN), Fudan University (CN), Shanghai Mental Health Center (CN), Soochow University (CN), Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (CN), Tongren Hospital (CN), Songjiang District Central Hospital (CN), Yueyang Hospital (CN), Institute of Forensic Science (CN), Shuguang Hospital (CN), Southern Medical University (CN), China Medical University (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, Shanghai Municipal Education Commission
Good health and well-being
Openalex Percentile: Top 89%
Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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