"The cerebral heart".

Abstract

The aim of this study is to prove that the systolic increase of the intracranial pressure affects the cerebral activity. Since the systolic stress on the cerebral parenchyma reaches its maximal power on the third ventricular wall, it was stated that the nonspecific mechanical stimuli must affect the thalamic nuclei. Simultaneous EEG-ECG recording shows that the alpha activity presents amplitude fluctuations related to the cardiac cycle. The primary thalamic spindles, when present in the EEG recordings, show the rise in amplitude related to the T wave on the ECG. Thus, the rhythmic pulsatile mechanical stress on the thalamic nuclei due to the cardiac cycle acts like a "cerebral heart" on the cortical activity.