Individualised electrophysiological neural field models for the assessment of thalamocortical function in disorders of consciousness: A multicentre study
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.
Authors
- Jacobo Diego Sitt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3878-4846)
- Lionel Naccache (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2874-1009)
- Olivia Gosseries (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9011-7496)
- Steven Laureys (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3096-3807)
- Iván Mindlin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6041-6081)
- Prejaas K. B. Tewarie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3311-4990)
- Naji Alnagger (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7880-6237)
- Benjamin Rohaut (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6752-8756)
- Aurore Thibaut (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5991-1747)
- Glenn van der Lande (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0518-2571)
- Laouen Mayal Louan Belloli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4093-7135)
- Jitka Annen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7459-4345)
- Pablo Núñez
- Lin Congyu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-4563-1559)
Institutions
- Universidad de Valladolid (ES)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Inserm (FR)
- University of Liège (BE)
- Hangzhou Normal University (CN)
- Ghent University (BE)
- Sorbonne Université (FR)
- Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris (FR)
- Biomedical Research Networking Center in Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (ES)
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red (ES)
- Institut du Cerveau (FR)
- Hôpital Charles-Foix (FR)
- Université Laval (CA)
- Centre de recherche CERVO (CA)
Publication Details
- Journal
- PLoS Computational Biology
- Published
- 2026-10-28
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1014905
- Primary Topic
- Traumatic Brain Injury Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Mind Science Foundation
- European Commission
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Fonds De La Recherche Scientifique - FNRS
- Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
- Fundação Bial
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina
- Université de Liège
- Koning Boudewijnstichting
- Fondazione Europea Ricerca Biomedica
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
- Instituto de Salud Carlos III
- European Regional Development Fund