Different Trajectories of Functional Connectivity Captured with Gamma-Event Coupling and Broadband Measures of EEG in the Rat Fluid Percussion Injury Model.

The present study adds to the understanding of functional connectivity changes in preclinical models of traumatic brain injury. In previously reported literature, there is heterogeneity in the directionality of connectivity changes after injury, resulting from factors such as severity of injury, frequency band studied, and methodology used to calculate FC. This study aims to further clarify differential mechanisms that result in altered network topography after injury, by using Broadband Amplitude-Derived FC and Gamma Event Coupling-Derived FC in EEG. We found post-injury changes that differ in complexity and directionality between measures at and across timepoints. In conjunction with known results and future studies identifying different neural drivers underlying these changes, measures derived from this study could provide useful means from which to minimally-invasively study temporally-evolving pathology after TBI.