Discrimination of auditory stimuli during isoflurane anesthesia.

Deep isoflurane anesthesia initiates a burst suppression pattern in which high-amplitude bursts are preceded by periods of nearly silent electroencephalogram. The burst suppression ratio (BSR) is the percentage of suppression (silent electroencephalogram) during the burst suppression pattern and is one parameter used to assess anesthesia depth. We investigated cortical burst activity in rats in response to different auditory stimuli presented during the burst suppression state. We noted a rapid appearance of bursts and a significant decrease in the BSR during stimulation. The BSR changes were distinctive for the different stimuli applied, and the BSR decreased significantly more when stimulated with a voice familiar to the rat as compared with an unfamiliar voice. These results show that the cortex can show differential sensory responses during deep isoflurane anesthesia.