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Event-related beta synchronization after wrist, finger and thumb movement.

Pre-movement event-related desynchronization (ERD) and post-movement event-related synchronization (ERS) were studied in a group of normal subjects during voluntary thumb, index finger and wrist movement. The band power time courses were computed for the upper alpha band (10-12 Hz) and for two frequency bands in the range of beta (16-20 Hz and 20-24 Hz). While a similar mu ERD was found during motor preparation for the 3 movement tasks, significant differences concerning beta synchronization were observed after movement off set. The contralateral percentage beta increase (ERS) was significantly larger in gross movements of the wrist as compared to index finger and thumb movements, which is discussed under the assumption of a cumulative effect. Summarizing, pre-movement desynchronization seems relatively independent of the forthcoming type of movement, whereas the post-movement beta synchronization might depend on the activated muscle mass.

Adult↗

Attention induces synchronization-based response gain in steady-state visual evoked potentials.

When attention is voluntarily directed to a spatial location, visual sensitivity increases at that location. What causes this improved sensitivity? Studies of single neuron spike rates in monkeys have provided mixed results in regard to whether attending to a stimulus increases its effective contrast (contrast gain) or multiplicatively boosts stimulus-driven neural responses (response or activity gain). We monitored frequency-tagged steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) in humans and found that voluntary sustained attention multiplicatively increased stimulus-driven population electrophysiological activity. Analyses of intertrial phase coherence showed that this attentional response gain was at least partially due to the increased synchronization of SSVEPs to stimulus flicker. These results suggest that attention operates in a complementary manner at different levels; attention seems to increase single-neuron spike rates in a variety of ways, including contrast, response and activity gains, while also inducing a multiplicative boost on neural population activity via enhanced response synchronization.

Adult↗

Seizures and enhanced cortical GABAergic inhibition in two mouse models of human autosomal dominant nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy.

Selected mutations in the human alpha4 or beta2 neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunit genes cosegregate with a partial epilepsy syndrome known as autosomal dominant nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy (ADNFLE). To examine possible mechanisms underlying this inherited epilepsy, we engineered two ADNFLE mutations (Chrna4(S252F) and Chrna4(+L264)) in mice. Heterozygous ADNFLE mutant mice show persistent, abnormal cortical electroencephalograms with prominent delta and theta frequencies, exhibit frequent spontaneous seizures, and show an increased sensitivity to the proconvulsant action of nicotine. Relative to WT, electrophysiological recordings from ADNFLE mouse layer II/III cortical pyramidal cells reveal a >20-fold increase in nicotine-evoked inhibitory postsynaptic currents with no effect on excitatory postsynaptic currents. i.p. injection of a subthreshold dose of picrotoxin, a use-dependent gamma-aminobutyric acid receptor antagonist, reduces cortical electroencephalogram delta power and transiently inhibits spontaneous seizure activity in ADNFLE mutant mice. Our studies suggest that the mechanism underlying ADNFLE seizures may involve inhibitory synchronization of cortical networks via activation of mutant alpha4-containing nicotinic acetylcholine receptors located on the presynaptic terminals and somatodendritic compartments of cortical GABAergic interneurons.

Animals↗

Comparative computations of spike synchronization in visual cortex of cats.

In recent years it has been proposed that synchronous activity between neurons is a putative mechanism to bind together various trigger features of an image. Thus the measure of synchronization becomes an important issue since it may be an electrophysiological sign of visual perception. This paper describes and compares six techniques of computing synchronization strength, that is, the central peak of a cross-correlogram. Data were obtained in anesthetized cats prepared for electrophysiological recordings in a conventional fashion. Results indicate that: (1) eye fits are misleading. Visual inspection of cross-correlograms, may be interesting if one needs to estimate approximately synchronization strength and the presence of oscillations in the cross-correlograms, however it may be misleading if one wants to compare different cross-correlograms; (2) regression analysis to compare one method against the others yields a relatively poor correlation suggesting that methods are not directly comparable; (3) the sensitivity of each computational method is unequal. The results may indicate that some functional connections are either under- or over-evaluated depending upon the strategy employed to measure synchronization.

Animals↗

A network of electrically coupled interneurons drives synchronized inhibition in neocortex.

The neocortex has at least two different networks of electrically coupled inhibitory interneurons: fast-spiking (FS) and low-threshold-spiking (LTS) cells. Agonists of metabotropic glutamate or acetylcholine receptors induced synchronized spiking and membrane fluctuations, with irregular or rhythmic patterns, in networks of LTS cells. LTS activity was closely correlated with inhibitory postsynaptic potentials in neighboring FS interneurons and excitatory neurons. Synchronized LTS activity required electrical synapses, but not fast chemical synapses. Tetanic stimulation of local circuitry induced effects similar to those of metabotropic agonists. We conclude that an electrically coupled network of LTS interneurons can mediate synchronized inhibition when activated by modulatory neurotransmitters.

Action Potentials↗

[Spectrum of high-frequency oscillations of the electrocorticogram and their nature].

A gradual amplitude decrease towards higher frequencies was found in the spectrum (25-400 Hz) of the ECoG of the curarized rabbit. This gradual decrease of the amplitude continued to exist under the action of d-amphetamine, physostigmine, atropine, chlorpromazine and thiopental despite changes in the spectrum characteristic of every agent. These changes allowed finding the boundary near 40 Hz between high frequencies (HF) and conventional ECoG. The amplitudes of all HF components changed in the same direction independently of the ECoG. Unanimous changes suggest common genesis of HFs and a gradual decrease of the amplitude in the spectrum supports their synaptic but not spike origin. In the light of the concept of the EEG quantum the conventional ECoG represents synchronization and HFs express fluctuations of the quantum flow.

Animals↗

Repeated imipramine administration enhances the effects of NMDA receptor ligands on synchronous activity in rat frontal cortex in vitro.

This study assessed the effects of repeated administration (14 days) of imipramine on the function of NMDA receptors by measuring the frequency of spontaneous epileptiform discharges which develop in rat frontal cortical slices incubated in Mg2+-free conditions. Imipramine significantly enhanced both the excitatory effect of NMDA and the inhibitory effect of the competitive NMDA receptor antagonist CGP 37849 on the frequency of discharges. These results are consistent with studies indicating that chronic administration of antidepressant drugs induces adaptive changes in NMDA receptor/ channel complex in the cerebral cortex.

2-Amino-5-phosphonovalerate↗

[Structural basis of the intracortical synchronization of epileptic potentials in the sensomotor region of the rat neocortex].

In control rats, penicillin-induced epileptiform discharges were completely synchronous in the neocortex sites at a distance of up to 4 mm from each other. Number of the cells decreased by 45.5% during 90 days in isolated cortical slabs and the synchronisation disappeared. The data obtained show that the loss of large pyramidal neurones of the layer V entailed a loss of the spatial synchronisation. The main axonal collaterals of large pyramidal neurones of the layer V could be followed horizontally for a distance of up to 2 mm in the somatosensory cortex. The neuronal network formed by the large pyramidal neurones of the layer V seems to provide a spatial synchronisation in the neocortex.

Animals↗

Long-range synchrony in the gamma band: role in music perception.

Synchronization seems to be a central mechanism for neuronal information processing within and between multiple brain areas. Furthermore, synchronization in the gamma band has been shown to play an important role in higher cognitive functions, especially by binding the necessary spatial and temporal information in different cortical areas to build a coherent perception. Specific task-induced (evoked) gamma oscillations have often been taken as an indication of synchrony, but the presence of long-range synchrony cannot be inferred from spectral power in the gamma range. We studied the usefulness of a relatively new measure, called similarity index to detect asymmetric interdependency between two brain regions. Spontaneous EEG from two groups-musicians and non-musicians-were recorded during several states: listening to music, listening to text, and at rest (eyes closed and eyes open). While listening to music, degrees of the gamma band synchrony over distributed cortical areas were found to be significantly higher in musicians than non-musicians. Yet no differences between these two groups were found at resting conditions and while listening to a neutral text. In contrast to the degree of long-range synchrony, spectral power in the gamma band was higher in non-musicians. The degree of spatial synchrony, a measure of signal complexity based on eigen-decomposition method, was also significantly increased in musicians while listening to music. As compared with non-musicians, the finding of increased long-range synchrony in musicians independent of spectral power is interpreted as a manifestation of a more advanced musical memory of musicians in binding together several features of the intrinsic complexity of music in a dynamical way.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

The effects of p-chlorophenylalanine, reserpine, methysergide and cyproheptadine on the dopa-induced EEG synchronization in the rat.

The actions of drugs interfering with central indolaminergic mechanisms were assessed on the Dopa-induced EEG synchronization in the rat. The increased slow wave activity observed during the first 30 min following Dopa (100 mg/kg) was significantly decreased by p-chlorophenylalanine (400 mg/kg), reserpine (4 and 8 mg/kg) and methysergide (16 mg/kg). Cyproheptadine was ineffective in this respect. Our findings lend support to the hypothesis that the initial synchronization after Dopa is related to the release of 5-hydroxytryptamine.

Animals↗

Comparison of Hilbert transform and wavelet methods for the analysis of neuronal synchrony.

The quantification of phase synchrony between neuronal signals is of crucial importance for the study of large-scale interactions in the brain. Two methods have been used to date in neuroscience, based on two distinct approaches which permit a direct estimation of the instantaneous phase of a signal [Phys. Rev. Lett. 81 (1998) 3291; Human Brain Mapping 8 (1999) 194]. The phase is either estimated by using the analytic concept of Hilbert transform or, alternatively, by convolution with a complex wavelet. In both methods the stability of the instantaneous phase over a window of time requires quantification by means of various statistical dependence parameters (standard deviation, Shannon entropy or mutual information). The purpose of this paper is to conduct a direct comparison between these two methods on three signal sets: (1) neural models; (2) intracranial signals from epileptic patients; and (3) scalp EEG recordings. Levels of synchrony that can be considered as reliable are estimated by using the technique of surrogate data. Our results demonstrate that the differences between the methods are minor, and we conclude that they are fundamentally equivalent for the study of neuroelectrical signals. This offers a common language and framework that can be used for future research in the area of synchronization.

Brain↗

Perceptual grouping correlates with short synchronization in monkey prestriate cortex.

Synchronization in the visual cortex at 35-80 Hz is assumed to support perceptual grouping. We tested this hypothesis in a figure-ground task in which a trained monkey indicated by a key whether he perceived a figure that was composed of the same blobs as the background distractors. The task was sufficiently difficult such that about 25% of responses were incorrect. We recorded population activity with 7 microelectrodes in prestriate cortex (V2). During a short period before the monkey's perceptual response, locations of figure-activated neurons showed increased synchronization (50-80 Hz) in correct compared to incorrect responses, while other signal measures were unrelated to perception. These are first indications that a short synchronous burst in V2 may support perceptual grouping.

Action Potentials↗

Dynamic synchrony of firing in the monkey prefrontal cortex during working-memory tasks.

Synchronized firing among neurons in the working brain is inferred to reflect coding by cell assemblies, which dynamically change their sizes and functional connections to encode various information. It therefore follows that, if synchronized firing reflects cell-assembly coding, it should show dynamic changes that depend on the tasks and events being processed and on the distance between the neurons. By using unique spike-sorting and multi-neuronal recording methods, we investigated such dynamics of synchrony in the prefrontal cortex of monkeys while they were successively performing two tasks in which working memory for either stimulus duration or color was required. Forty-eight percent of 1405 neuronal pairs showed firing synchrony during the performance of the tasks. Almost half of such neuronal pairs showed fixed synchrony and constantly fired together in both tasks. However, some neuronal pairs showed task-dependent synchrony that appeared in only one of the tasks. Moreover, the other neuronal pairs showed event-task-dependent synchrony that appeared during stimulus or retention periods in the tasks, but the periods showing synchrony varied between the tasks. Fixed synchrony and task-dependent synchrony were mostly observed among neighboring neurons and showed little variation of spike timings; the event-task-dependent synchrony, in contrast, was more often detected among distant neurons with larger variation of spike timings than the other two types of synchrony. These results suggest that some closely neighboring neurons have dynamic and sharp synchrony to represent certain situations (tasks), whereas some distant neurons show more dynamic and unstable synchronous firing to represent quickly changing events being processed in working memory.

Action Potentials↗

[The role of synchronized electric activity in the development of epileptiform discharges].

The possibility of production of the epileptiform discharges throughout the sleep--wakefulness cycle was studied by means of thresholds for isolated EEG epileptiform discharges in cats. The experiments with artificially induced EEG synchronization (nembutal) indicate that the EEG synchronization does not facilitate the epileptiform discharges. However, this fact does not include the well--known standpoint concerning the preferential role of the EEG synchronization in provoking generalized seizures.

Animals↗