Disorder of consciousness and brain injury
The research of consciousness can benefit from the investigation of
disorder of consciousness, or impaired consciousness. Loss of
consciousness occurs when there is damage to the brain. There are three
major forms of DOC, including coma, vegetative state, and minimally
conscious states. In these situations, loss of consciousness is
prolonged or even permanent. Several clinical studies indicate that the
impairment of the thalamus-cortex and thalamus/basal ganglia contribute
to the DOC (Lutkenhoff et al. , 2015; Yu et al. , 2021),
providing clinical human evidence for the important roles of the
thalamus-cortex network in consciousness. No doubt, the prolonged loss
of consciousness may trigger subsequent plastic changes within the
brain. As compared with the DOC, the use of anesthesia has also
facilitated the search for a mechanism for acute loss of consciousness.
Future studies of these mechanisms using animal models will help us to
better understand the mechanism for reversible loss and permanent loss
of consciousness.