Modulation of thalamocortical oscillations by TRIP8b, an auxiliary subunit for HCN channels.

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Zobeiri, Mehrnoush; Chaudhary, Rahul; Datunashvili, Maia; Heuermann, Robert J; Lüttjohann, Annika; Narayanan, Venu; Balfanz, Sabine; Meuth, Patrick; Chetkovich, Dane M; Pape, Hans-Christian; Baumann, Arnd; van Luijtelaar, Gilles; Budde, Thomas

2018-04-01

Hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated cation (HCN) channels have important functions in controlling neuronal excitability and generating rhythmic oscillatory activity. The role of tetratricopeptide repeat-containing Rab8b-interacting protein (TRIP8b) in regulation of hyperpolarization-activated inward current, I h , in the thalamocortical system and its functional relevance for the physiological thalamocortical oscillations were investigated. A significant decrease in I h current density, in both thalamocortical relay (TC) and cortical pyramidal neurons was found in TRIP8b-deficient mice (TRIP8b -/- ). In addition basal cAMP levels in the brain were found to be decreased while the availability of the fast transient A-type K + current, I A , in TC neurons was increased. These changes were associated with alterations in intrinsic properties and firing patterns of TC neurons, as well as intrathalamic and thalamocortical network oscillations, revealing a significant increase in slow oscillations in the delta frequency range (0.5-4 Hz) during episodes of active-wakefulness. In addition, absence of TRIP8b suppresses the normal desynchronization response of the EEG during the switch from slow-wave sleep to wakefulness. It is concluded that TRIP8b is necessary for the modulation of physiological thalamocortical oscillations due to its direct effect on HCN channel expression in thalamus and cortex and that mechanisms related to reduced cAMP signaling may contribute to the present findings.

Development of thalamocortical connectivity during infancy and its cognitive correlations.

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Alcauter, Sarael; Lin, Weili; Smith, J Keith; Short, Sarah J; Goldman, Barbara D; Reznick, J Steven; Gilmore, John H; Gao, Wei

2014-07-02

Although commonly viewed as a sensory information relay center, the thalamus has been increasingly recognized as an essential node in various higher-order cognitive circuits, and the underlying thalamocortical interaction mechanism has attracted increasing scientific interest. However, the development of thalamocortical connections and how such development relates to cognitive processes during the earliest stages of life remain largely unknown. Leveraging a large human pediatric sample (N = 143) with longitudinal resting-state fMRI scans and cognitive data collected during the first 2 years of life, we aimed to characterize the age-dependent development of thalamocortical connectivity patterns by examining the functional relationship between the thalamus and nine cortical functional networks and determine the correlation between thalamocortical connectivity and cognitive performance at ages 1 and 2 years. Our results revealed that the thalamus-sensorimotor and thalamus-salience connectivity networks were already present in neonates, whereas the thalamus-medial visual and thalamus-default mode network connectivity emerged later, at 1 year of age. More importantly, brain-behavior analyses based on the Mullen Early Learning Composite Score and visual-spatial working memory performance measured at 1 and 2 years of age highlighted significant correlations with the thalamus-salience network connectivity. These results provide new insights into the understudied early functional brain development process and shed light on the behavioral importance of the emerging thalamocortical connectivity during infancy. Copyright © 2014 the authors 0270-6474/14/349067-09$15.00/0.

Progressive thalamocortical neuron loss in Cln5 deficient mice: Distinct effects in Finnish variant late infantile NCL.

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von Schantz, Carina; Kielar, Catherine; Hansen, Stine N; Pontikis, Charlie C; Alexander, Noreen A; Kopra, Outi; Jalanko, Anu; Cooper, Jonathan D

2009-05-01

Finnish variant LINCL (vLINCL(Fin)) is the result of mutations in the CLN5 gene. To gain insights into the pathological staging of this fatal pediatric disorder, we have undertaken a stereological analysis of the CNS of Cln5 deficient mice (Cln5-/-) at different stages of disease progression. Consistent with human vLINCL(Fin), these Cln5-/- mice displayed a relatively late onset regional atrophy and generalized cortical thinning and synaptic pathology, preceded by early and localized glial responses within the thalamocortical system. However, in marked contrast to other forms of NCL, neuron loss in Cln5-/- mice began in the cortex and only subsequently occurred within thalamic relay nuclei. Nevertheless, as in other NCL mouse models, this progressive thalamocortical neuron loss was still most pronounced within the visual system. These data provide unexpected evidence for a distinctive sequence of neuron loss in the thalamocortical system of Cln5-/- mice, diametrically opposed to that seen in other forms of NCL.

The thalamo-cortical auditory receptive fields: regulation by the states of vigilance, learning and the neuromodulatory systems.

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Edeline, Jean-Marc

2003-12-01

The goal of this review is twofold. First, it aims to describe the dynamic regulation that constantly shapes the receptive fields (RFs) and maps in the thalamo-cortical sensory systems of undrugged animals. Second, it aims to discuss several important issues that remain unresolved at the intersection between behavioral neurosciences and sensory physiology. A first section presents the RF modulations observed when an undrugged animal spontaneously shifts from waking to slow-wave sleep or to paradoxical sleep (also called REM sleep). A second section shows that, in contrast with the general changes described in the first section, behavioral training can induce selective effects which favor the stimulus that has acquired significance during learning. A third section reviews the effects triggered by two major neuromodulators of the thalamo-cortical system--acetylcholine and noradrenaline--which are traditionally involved both in the switch of vigilance states and in learning experiences. The conclusion argues that because the receptive fields and maps of an awake animal are continuously modulated from minute to minute, learning-induced sensory plasticity can be viewed as a "crystallization" of the receptive fields and maps in one of the multiple possible states. Studying the interplays between neuromodulators can help understanding the neurobiological foundations of this dynamic regulation.

Thalamocortical Oscillations in the Sleeping and Aroused Brain

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Steriade, Mircea; McCormick, David A.; Sejnowski, Terrence J.

1993-10-01

Sleep is characterized by synchronized events in billions of synaptically coupled neurons in thalamocortical systems. The activation of a series of neuromodulatory transmitter systems during awakening blocks low-frequency oscillations, induces fast rhythms, and allows the brain to recover full responsiveness. Analysis of cortical and thalamic networks at many levels, from molecules to single neurons to large neuronal assemblies, with a variety of techniques, ranging from intracellular recordings in vivo and in vitro to computer simulations, is beginning to yield insights into the mechanisms of the generation, modulation, and function of brain oscillations.

Alterations in the properties of neonatal thalamocortical synapses with time in in vitro slices.

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Liliana L Luz

Full Text Available New synapses are constantly being generated and lost in the living brain with only a subset of these being stabilized to form an enduring component of neuronal circuitry. The properties of synaptic transmission have primarily been established in a variety of in vitro neuronal preparations. It is not clear, however, if newly-formed and persistent synapses contribute to the results of these studies consistently throughout the lifespan of these preparations. In neonatal somatosensory, barrel, cortex we have previously hypothesized that a population of thalamocortical synapses displaying unusually slow kinetics represent newly-formed, default-transient synapses. This clear phenotype would provide an ideal tool to investigate if such newly formed synapses consistently contribute to synaptic transmission throughout a normal experimental protocol. We show that the proportion of synapses recorded in vitro displaying slow kinetics decreases with time after brain slice preparation. However, slow synapses persist in vitro in the presence of either minocycline, an inhibitor of microglia-mediated synapse elimination, or the TrkB agonist 7,8-dihydroxyflavone a promoter of synapse formation. These findings show that the observed properties of synaptic transmission may systematically change with time in vitro in a standard brain slice preparation.

Precise Somatotopic Thalamocortical Axon Guidance Depends on LPA-Mediated PRG-2/Radixin Signaling

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Cheng, Jin; Sahani, Sadhna; Hausrat, Torben Johann

2016-01-01

Precise connection of thalamic barreloids with their corresponding cortical barrels is critical for processing of vibrissal sensory information. Here, we show that PRG-2, a phospholipid-interacting molecule, is important for thalamocortical axon guidance. Developing thalamocortical fibers both...

Patchwork-Type Spontaneous Activity in Neonatal Barrel Cortex Layer 4 Transmitted via Thalamocortical Projections

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Hidenobu Mizuno

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Summary: Establishment of precise neuronal connectivity in the neocortex relies on activity-dependent circuit reorganization during postnatal development; however, the nature of cortical activity during this period remains largely unknown. Using two-photon calcium imaging of the barrel cortex in vivo during the first postnatal week, we reveal that layer 4 (L4 neurons within the same barrel fire synchronously in the absence of peripheral stimulation, creating a “patchwork” pattern of spontaneous activity corresponding to the barrel map. By generating transgenic mice expressing GCaMP6s in thalamocortical axons, we show that thalamocortical axons also demonstrate the spontaneous patchwork activity pattern. Patchwork activity is diminished by peripheral anesthesia but is mostly independent of self-generated whisker movements. The patchwork activity pattern largely disappeared during postnatal week 2, as even L4 neurons within the same barrel tended to fire asynchronously. This spontaneous L4 activity pattern has features suitable for thalamocortical (TC circuit refinement in the neonatal barrel cortex. : By two-photon calcium imaging of layer 4 neurons and thalamocortical axon terminals in neonatal mouse barrel cortex, Mizuno et al. find a patchwork-like spontaneous activity pattern corresponding to the barrel map, which may be important for thalamocortical circuit maturation. Keywords: activity-dependent development, spontaneous activity, synchronized activity, barrel cortex, thalamocortical axons, neonates, in vivo calcium imaging, awake, single-cell labeling, whisker monitoring

Subliminal stimulation and somatosensory signal detection.

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Ferrè, Elisa Raffaella; Sahani, Maneesh; Haggard, Patrick

2016-10-01

Only a small fraction of sensory signals is consciously perceived. The brain's perceptual systems may include mechanisms of feedforward inhibition that protect the cortex from subliminal noise, thus reserving cortical capacity and conscious awareness for significant stimuli. Here we provide a new view of these mechanisms based on signal detection theory, and gain control. We demonstrated that subliminal somatosensory stimulation decreased sensitivity for the detection of a subsequent somatosensory input, largely due to increased false alarm rates. By delivering the subliminal somatosensory stimulus and the to-be-detected somatosensory stimulus to different digits of the same hand, we show that this effect spreads across the sensory surface. In addition, subliminal somatosensory stimulation tended to produce an increased probability of responding "yes", whether the somatosensory stimulus was present or not. Our results suggest that subliminal stimuli temporarily reduce input gain, avoiding excessive responses to further small inputs. This gain control may be automatic, and may precede discriminative classification of inputs into signals or noise. Crucially, we found that subliminal inputs influenced false alarm rates only on blocks where the to-be-detected stimuli were present, and not on pre-test control blocks where they were absent. Participants appeared to adjust their perceptual criterion according to a statistical distribution of stimuli in the current context, with the presence of supraliminal stimuli having an important role in the criterion-setting process. These findings clarify the cognitive mechanisms that reserve conscious perception for salient and important signals. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Behavioral Consequences of a Bifacial Map in the Mouse Somatosensory Cortex.

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Tsytsarev, Vassiliy; Arakawa, Hiroyuki; Zhao, Shuxin; Chédotal, Alain; Erzurumlu, Reha S

2017-07-26

The whisker system is an important sensory organ with extensive neural representations in the brain of the mouse. Patterned neural modules (barrelettes) in the ipsilateral principal sensory nucleus of the trigeminal nerve (PrV) correspond to the whiskers. Axons of the PrV barrelette neurons cross the midline and confer the whisker-related patterning to the contralateral ventroposteromedial nucleus of the thalamus, and subsequently to the cortex. In this way, specific neural modules called barreloids and barrels in the contralateral thalamus and cortex represent each whisker. Partial midline crossing of the PrV axons, in a conditional Robo3 mutant ( Robo3 R3-5 cKO ) mouse line, leads to the formation of bilateral whisker maps in the ventroposteromedial, as well as the barrel cortex. We used voltage-sensitive dye optical imaging and somatosensory and motor behavioral tests to characterize the consequences of bifacial maps in the thalamocortical system. Voltage-sensitive dye optical imaging verified functional, bilateral whisker representation in the barrel cortex and activation of distinct cortical loci following ipsilateral and contralateral stimulation of the specific whiskers. The mutant animals were comparable with the control animals in sensorimotor tests. However, they showed noticeable deficits in all of the whisker-dependent or -related tests, including Y-maze exploration, horizontal surface approach, bridge crossing, gap crossing, texture discrimination, floating in water, and whisking laterality. Our results indicate that bifacial maps along the thalamocortical system do not offer a functional advantage. Instead, they lead to impairments, possibly due to the smaller size of the whisker-related modules and interference between the ipsilateral and contralateral whisker representations in the same thalamus and cortex. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The whisker sensory system plays a quintessentially important role in exploratory behavior of mice and other nocturnal

[Neurophysiological investigations of information processing in the somato-sensory system].

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Kunesch, E

2009-08-01

The ability of the human hand to perform complex sensorimotor tasks such as tactile exploration and grasping is based on 1. exact encoding of somatosensory information by cutaneous mechanoreceptors, 2. elaborated processing of afferent signals in somatosensory relay stations and cortex fields, 3. rapid and effective interaction of sensory feedback with motor programs, and 4. different modes of sensory control, which can be switched over. (c) Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart-New York.

Compensating for Thalamocortical Synaptic Loss in Alzheimer’s Disease

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Kamal eAbuhassan

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The study presents a thalamocortical network model which oscillates within the alpha frequency band (8-13 Hz as recorded in the wakeful relaxed state with closed eyes to study the neural causes of abnormal oscillatory activity in Alzheimer’s disease (AD. Incorporated within the model are various types of cortical excitatory and inhibitory neurons, recurrently connected to thalamic and reticular thalamic regions with the ratios and distances derived from the mammalian thalamocortical system. The model is utilized to study the impacts of four types of connectivity loss on the model’s spectral dynamics. The study focuses on investigating degeneration of corticocortical, thalamocortical, corticothalamic and corticoreticular couplings, with an emphasis on the influence of each modelled case on the spectral output of the model. Synaptic compensation has been included in each model to examine the interplay between synaptic deletion and compensation mechanisms, and the oscillatory activity of the network. The results of power spectra and event related desynchronisation/synchronisation (ERD/S analyses show that the dynamics of the thalamic and cortical oscillations are significantly influenced by corticocortical synaptic loss. Interestingly, the patterns of changes in thalamic spectral activity are correlated with those in the cortical model. Similarly, the thalamic oscillatory activity is diminished after partial corticothalamic denervation. The results suggest that thalamic atrophy is a secondary pathology to cortical shrinkage in Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, this study finds that the inhibition from neurons in the thalamic reticular nucleus (RTN to thalamic relay (TCR neurons plays a key role in regulating thalamic oscillations; disinhibition disrupts thalamic oscillatory activity even though TCR neurons are more depolarized after being released from RTN inhibition. This study provides information that can be explored experimentally to

Paradigms for restoration of somatosensory feedback via stimulation of the peripheral nervous system.

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Pasluosta, Cristian; Kiele, Patrick; Stieglitz, Thomas

2018-04-01

The somatosensory system contributes substantially to the integration of multiple sensor modalities into perception. Tactile sensations, proprioception and even temperature perception are integrated to perceive embodiment of our limbs. Damage of somatosensory networks can severely affect the execution of daily life activities. Peripheral injuries are optimally corrected via direct interfacing of the peripheral nerves. Recent advances in implantable devices, stimulation paradigms, and biomimetic sensors enabled the restoration of natural sensations after amputation of the limb. The refinement of stimulation patterns to deliver natural feedback that can be interpreted intuitively such to prescind from long-learning sessions is crucial to function restoration. For this review, we collected state-of-the-art knowledge on the evolution of stimulation paradigms from single fiber stimulation to the eliciting of multisensory sensations. Data from the literature are structured into six sections: (a) physiology of the somatosensory system; (b) stimulation of single fibers; (c) restoral of multisensory percepts; (d) closure of the control loop in hand prostheses; (e) sensory restoration and the sense of embodiment, and (f) methodologies to assess stimulation outcomes. Full functional recovery demands further research on multisensory integration and brain plasticity, which will bring new paradigms for intuitive sensory feedback in the next generation of limb prostheses. Copyright © 2017 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Spindle-like thalamocortical synchronization in a rat brain slice preparation.

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Tancredi, V; Biagini, G; D'Antuono, M; Louvel, J; Pumain, R; Avoli, M

2000-08-01

We obtained rat brain slices (550-650 microm) that contained part of the frontoparietal cortex along with a portion of the thalamic ventrobasal complex (VB) and of the reticular nucleus (RTN). Maintained reciprocal thalamocortical connectivity was demonstrated by VB stimulation, which elicited orthodromic and antidromic responses in the cortex, along with re-entry of thalamocortical firing originating in VB neurons excited by cortical output activity. In addition, orthodromic responses were recorded in VB and RTN following stimuli delivered in the cortex. Spontaneous and stimulus-induced coherent rhythmic oscillations (duration = 0.4-3.5 s; frequency = 9-16 Hz) occurred in cortex, VB, and RTN during application of medium containing low concentrations of the K(+) channel blocker 4-aminopyridine (0.5-1 microM). This activity, which resembled electroencephalograph (EEG) spindles recorded in vivo, disappeared in both cortex and thalamus during application of the excitatory amino acid receptor antagonist kynurenic acid in VB (n = 6). By contrast, cortical application of kynurenic acid (n = 4) abolished spindle-like oscillations at this site, but not those recorded in VB, where their frequency was higher than under control conditions. Our findings demonstrate the preservation of reciprocally interconnected cortical and thalamic neuron networks that generate thalamocortical spindle-like oscillations in an in vitro rat brain slice. As shown in intact animals, these oscillations originate in the thalamus where they are presumably caused by interactions between RTN and VB neurons. We propose that this preparation may help to analyze thalamocortical synchronization and to understand the physiopathogenesis of absence attacks.

Altered structural and functional thalamocortical networks in secondarily generalized extratemporal lobe seizures

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Syu-Jyun Peng

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Structural and functional abnormalities in the thalamocortical network in primary generalized epilepsies or mesial temporal lobe epilepsy have recently been identified by voxel-wise analyses of neuroimaging. However, evidence is needed regarding the profiles of the thalamocortical network in patients with secondarily generalized seizures from focal neocortical sources. We used high-resolution T1-weighted, diffusion-tensor and resting-state functional MR imaging (rs-fMRI to examine 16 patients with secondarily generalized extratemporal lobe seizures and 16 healthy controls. All the patients were medically effective and MRI-negative. Using whole brain voxel-based morphometry (VBM to compare the patients with the normal controls, we observed significantly decreased gray matter (GM density in the thalamus and 3 frontal gyri and significantly reduced white matter (WM fractional anisotropy (FA in the bilateral anterior corona radiata of the patients. Alterations in the thalamocortical functional connectivity with different cortices were identified by the rs-fMRI analysis seeding of the whole thalamus. The prefrontal gyri with the greatest functional connectivity were also traced by seeding a sub-thalamic region that is demarcated in an atlas, in which the thalamic parcellation is based on the WM connectivity to the cortices. This sub-thalamic region anatomically contains the mediodorsal thalamic nucleus where, concordantly, there was a significant decrease in thalamic GM density in the VBM study. In contrast to the negative correlation between the disease duration and reduced thalamic densities and subcortical FA values, the strength of the functional thalamocortical connectivity had a paradoxical correlation. Our results conclusively indicate that generalized seizures with a focal cortical source are associated with structural and functional alterations in the thalamocortical network.

Thalamocortical dysrhythmia: a theoretical update in tinnitus

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Dirk eDe Ridder

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Tinnitus is the perception of a sound in the absence of an external sound source. Pathophysiologically it has been attributed to bottom up deafferentation and/or top down noise-cancelling deficit. Both mechanisms are proposed to alter auditory thalamocortical signal transmission resulting in thalamocortical dysrhythmia (TCD. In deafferentation, TCD is characterized by a slowing down of resting state alpha to theta activity associated with an increase in surrounding gamma activity, resulting in persisting cross-frequency coupling between theta and gamma activity. Theta burst-firing increases network synchrony and recruitment, a mechanism which might enable long range synchrony, which in turn could represent a means for finding the missing thalamocortical information and for gaining access to consciousness. Theta oscillations could function as a carrier wave to integrate the tinnitus related focal auditory gamma activity in a consciousness enabling network, as envisioned by the global workspace model. This model suggests that focal activity in the brain does not reach consciousness, except if the focal activity becomes functionally coupled to a consciousness enabling network, aka the global workspace. In limited deafferentation the missing information can be retrieved from the auditory cortical neighborhood, decreasing surround inhibition, resulting in TCD. When the deafferentation is too wide in bandwidth it is hypothesized that the missing information is retrieved from theta mediated parahippocampal auditory memory. This suggests that based on the amount of deafferentation TCD might change to parahippocampo-cortical persisting and thus pathological theta-gamma rhythm. From a Bayesian point of view, in which the brain is conceived as a prediction machine that updates its memory-based predictions through sensory updating, tinnitus is the result of a prediction error between the predicted and sensed auditory input. The decrease in sensory updating

Somatosensory evoked potentials and dynamic postural assessment in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis

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Dalia Mohamed Ezz El Mikkawy

2016-01-01

Conclusion The study demonstrates abnormal somatosensory and postural function in patients with AIS, and a significant inter-relationship between the scoliotic angle, the somatosensory system, and posture. Thus, optimum assessment and treatment of neurological pathway and balance are important in these patients.

Distinct kinetics of inhibitory currents in thalamocortical neurons that arise from dendritic or axonal origin.

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Sunggu Yang

Full Text Available Thalamocortical neurons in the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN transfer visual information from retina to primary visual cortex. This information is modulated by inhibitory input arising from local interneurons and thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN neurons, leading to alterations of receptive field properties of thalamocortical neurons. Local GABAergic interneurons provide two distinct synaptic outputs: axonal (F1 terminals and dendritic (F2 terminals onto dLGN thalamocortical neurons. By contrast, TRN neurons provide only axonal output (F1 terminals onto dLGN thalamocortical neurons. It is unclear if GABAA receptor-mediated currents originating from F1 and F2 terminals have different characteristics. In the present study, we examined multiple characteristics (rise time, slope, halfwidth and decay τ of GABAA receptor-mediated miniature inhibitory postsynaptic synaptic currents (mIPSCs originating from F1 and F2 terminals. The mIPSCs arising from F2 terminals showed slower kinetics relative to those from F1 terminals. Such differential kinetics of GABAAR-mediated responses could be an important role in temporal coding of visual signals.

Somatosensory abnormalities in knee OA.

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Wylde, Vikki; Palmer, Shea; Learmonth, Ian D; Dieppe, Paul

2012-03-01

The aim of this study was to use quantitative sensory testing (QST) to explore the range and prevalence of somatosensory abnormalities demonstrated by patients with advanced knee OA. One hundred and seven knee OA patients and 50 age- and sex-matched healthy participants attended a 1-h QST session. Testing was performed on the medial side of the knee and the pain-free forearm. Light-touch thresholds were assessed using von Frey filaments, pressure pain thresholds using a digital pressure algometer, and thermal sensation and pain thresholds using a Thermotest MSA. Significant differences in median threshold values from knee OA patients and healthy participants were identified using Mann-Whitney U-tests. The z-score transformations were used to determine the prevalence of the different somatosensory abnormalities in knee OA patients. Testing identified 70% of knee OA patients as having at least one somatosensory abnormality. Comparison of median threshold values between knee OA patients and healthy participants revealed that patients had localized thermal and tactile hypoaesthesia and pressure hyperalgesia at the osteoarthritic knee. Tactile hypoaesthesia and pressure hyperalgesia were also present at the pain-free forearm. The most prevalent somatosensory abnormalities were tactile hypoaesthesia and pressure hyperalgesia, evident in between 20 and 34% of patients. This study found that OA patients demonstrate an array of somatosensory abnormalities, of which the most prevalent were tactile hypoaesthesia and pressure hyperalgesia. Further research is now needed to establish the clinical implications of these somatosensory abnormalities.

Optogenetic conditioning of paradigm and pattern discrimination in the rat somatosensory system.

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Kenta Abe

Full Text Available The rodent whisker-barrel cortical system is a model for studying somatosensory discrimination at high spatiotemporal precision. Here, we applied optogenetics to produce somatosensory inputs in the whisker area using one of transgenic rat lines, W-TChR2V4, which expresses channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2 in the mechanoreceptive nerve endings around whisker follicles. An awake W-TChR2V4 rat was head-fixed and irradiated by blue LED light on the whisker area with a paradigm conditioned with a reward. The Go task was designed so the rat is allowed to receive a reward, when it licked the nozzle within 5 s after photostimulation. The No-go task was designed so as the rat has to withhold licking for at least 5 s to obtain a reward after photostimulation. The Go-task conditioning was established within 1 hr of training with a reduction in the reaction time and increase of the success rate. To investigate the relationship between the spatiotemporal pattern of sensory inputs and the behavioral output, we designed a multi-optical fiber system that irradiates the whisker area at 9 spots in a 3×3 matrix. Although the Go-task conditioning was established using synchronous irradiation of 9 spots, the success rate was decreased with an increase of the reaction time for the asynchronous irradiation. After conditioning to the Go task, the rat responded to the blue LED flash irradiated on the barrel cortex, where many neurons also express ChR2, or photostimulation of the contralateral whisker area with a similar reaction time and success rate. Synchronous activation of the peripheral mechanoreceptive nerves is suggested to drive a neural circuit in the somatosensory cortex that efficiently couples with the decision. Our optogenetic system would enable the precise evaluation of the psychophysical values, such as the reaction time and success rate, to gain some insight into the brain mechanisms underlying conditioned behaviors.

Thalamocortical Connectivity and Microstructural Changes in Congenital and Late Blindness

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Reislev, N H; Dyrby, Tim Bjørn; Siebner, H. R.

2017-01-01

There is ample evidence that the occipital cortex of congenitally blind individuals processes nonvisual information. It remains a debate whether the cross-modal activation of the occipital cortex is mediated through the modulation of preexisting corticocortical projections or the reorganisation...... of thalamocortical connectivity. Current knowledge on this topic largely stems from anatomical studies in animal models. The aim of this study was to test whether purported changes in thalamocortical connectivity in blindness can be revealed by tractography based on diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging...... network between congenitally blind individuals, late blind individuals, and normal sighted controls, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) indices revealed significant microstructural changes within thalamic clusters of both blind groups. Furthermore, we find a significant decrease in fractional anisotropy (FA...

Cell Type–Specific Three-Dimensional Structure of Thalamocortical Circuits in a Column of Rat Vibrissal Cortex

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de Kock, Christiaan P. J.; Bruno, Randy M.; Ramirez, Alejandro; Meyer, Hanno S.; Dercksen, Vincent J.; Helmstaedter, Moritz; Sakmann, Bert

2012-01-01

Soma location, dendrite morphology, and synaptic innervation may represent key determinants of functional responses of individual neurons, such as sensory-evoked spiking. Here, we reconstruct the 3D circuits formed by thalamocortical afferents from the lemniscal pathway and excitatory neurons of an anatomically defined cortical column in rat vibrissal cortex. We objectively classify 9 cortical cell types and estimate the number and distribution of their somata, dendrites, and thalamocortical synapses. Somata and dendrites of most cell types intermingle, while thalamocortical connectivity depends strongly upon the cell type and the 3D soma location of the postsynaptic neuron. Correlating dendrite morphology and thalamocortical connectivity to functional responses revealed that the lemniscal afferents can account for some of the cell type- and location-specific subthreshold and spiking responses after passive whisker touch (e.g., in layer 4, but not for other cell types, e.g., in layer 5). Our data provides a quantitative 3D prediction of the cell type–specific lemniscal synaptic wiring diagram and elucidates structure–function relationships of this physiologically relevant pathway at single-cell resolution. PMID:22089425

Listening to another sense: somatosensory integration in the auditory system.

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Wu, Calvin; Stefanescu, Roxana A; Martel, David T; Shore, Susan E

2015-07-01

Conventionally, sensory systems are viewed as separate entities, each with its own physiological process serving a different purpose. However, many functions require integrative inputs from multiple sensory systems and sensory intersection and convergence occur throughout the central nervous system. The neural processes for hearing perception undergo significant modulation by the two other major sensory systems, vision and somatosensation. This synthesis occurs at every level of the ascending auditory pathway: the cochlear nucleus, inferior colliculus, medial geniculate body and the auditory cortex. In this review, we explore the process of multisensory integration from (1) anatomical (inputs and connections), (2) physiological (cellular responses), (3) functional and (4) pathological aspects. We focus on the convergence between auditory and somatosensory inputs in each ascending auditory station. This review highlights the intricacy of sensory processing and offers a multisensory perspective regarding the understanding of sensory disorders.

Volumetric localization of somatosensory cortex in children using synthetic aperture magnetometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xiang, Jing; Holowka, Stephanie; Chuang, Sylvester; Sharma, Rohit; Hunjan, Amrita; Otsubo, Hiroshi

2003-01-01

Magnetic signal from the human brain can be measured noninvasively by using magnetoencephalography (MEG). This study was designed to localize and reconstruct the neuromagnetic activity in the somatosensory cortex in children Twenty children were studied using a 151-channel MEG system with electrical stimulation applied to median nerves. Data were analyzed using synthetic aperture magnetometry (SAM). A clear deflection (M1) was clearly identified in 18 children (90%, 18/20). Two frequency bands, 30-60 Hz and 60-120 Hz, were found to be related to somatosensory cortex. Magnetic activity was localized in the posterior bank of the central sulcus in 16 children. The extent of the reconstructed neuromagnetic activity of the left hemisphere was significantly larger than that of the right hemisphere (P<0.01). Somatosensory cortex was accurately localized by using SAM. The extent of the reconstructed neuromagnetic activity suggested that the left hemisphere was the dominant side in the somatosensory system in children. We postulate that the volumetric characteristics of the reconstructed neuromagnetic activity are able to indicate the functionality of the brain. (orig.)

Temporal factors affecting somatosensory-auditory interactions in speech processing

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Takayuki eIto

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Speech perception is known to rely on both auditory and visual information. However, sound specific somatosensory input has been shown also to influence speech perceptual processing (Ito et al., 2009. In the present study we addressed further the relationship between somatosensory information and speech perceptual processing by addressing the hypothesis that the temporal relationship between orofacial movement and sound processing contributes to somatosensory-auditory interaction in speech perception. We examined the changes in event-related potentials in response to multisensory synchronous (simultaneous and asynchronous (90 ms lag and lead somatosensory and auditory stimulation compared to individual unisensory auditory and somatosensory stimulation alone. We used a robotic device to apply facial skin somatosensory deformations that were similar in timing and duration to those experienced in speech production. Following synchronous multisensory stimulation the amplitude of the event-related potential was reliably different from the two unisensory potentials. More importantly, the magnitude of the event-related potential difference varied as a function of the relative timing of the somatosensory-auditory stimulation. Event-related activity change due to stimulus timing was seen between 160-220 ms following somatosensory onset, mostly around the parietal area. The results demonstrate a dynamic modulation of somatosensory-auditory convergence and suggest the contribution of somatosensory information for speech processing process is dependent on the specific temporal order of sensory inputs in speech production.

Somatosensory tinnitus: Current evidence and future perspectives

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Greco, Antonio; Turchetta, Rosaria; Altissimi, Giancarlo; de Vincentiis, Marco; Cianfrone, Giancarlo

2017-01-01

In some individuals, tinnitus can be modulated by specific maneuvers of the temporomandibular joint, head and neck, eyes, and limbs. Neuroplasticity seems to play a central role in this capacity for modulation, suggesting that abnormal interactions between the sensory modalities, sensorimotor systems, and neurocognitive and neuroemotional networks may contribute to the development of somatosensory tinnitus. Current evidence supports a link between somatic disorders and higher modulation of tinnitus, especially in patients with a normal hearing threshold. Patients with tinnitus who have somatic disorders seems to have a higher chance of modulating their tinnitus with somatic maneuvers; consistent improvements in tinnitus symptoms have been observed in patients with temporomandibular joint disease following targeted therapy for temporomandibular disorders. Somatosensory tinnitus is often overlooked by otolaryngologists and not fully investigated during the diagnostic process. Somatic disorders, when identified and treated, can be a valid therapeutic target for tinnitus; however, somatic screening of subjects for somatosensory tinnitus is imperative for correct selection of patients who would benefit from a multidisciplinary somatic approach. PMID:28553764

Somatosensory tinnitus: Current evidence and future perspectives.

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Ralli, Massimo; Greco, Antonio; Turchetta, Rosaria; Altissimi, Giancarlo; de Vincentiis, Marco; Cianfrone, Giancarlo

2017-06-01

In some individuals, tinnitus can be modulated by specific maneuvers of the temporomandibular joint, head and neck, eyes, and limbs. Neuroplasticity seems to play a central role in this capacity for modulation, suggesting that abnormal interactions between the sensory modalities, sensorimotor systems, and neurocognitive and neuroemotional networks may contribute to the development of somatosensory tinnitus. Current evidence supports a link between somatic disorders and higher modulation of tinnitus, especially in patients with a normal hearing threshold. Patients with tinnitus who have somatic disorders seems to have a higher chance of modulating their tinnitus with somatic maneuvers; consistent improvements in tinnitus symptoms have been observed in patients with temporomandibular joint disease following targeted therapy for temporomandibular disorders. Somatosensory tinnitus is often overlooked by otolaryngologists and not fully investigated during the diagnostic process. Somatic disorders, when identified and treated, can be a valid therapeutic target for tinnitus; however, somatic screening of subjects for somatosensory tinnitus is imperative for correct selection of patients who would benefit from a multidisciplinary somatic approach.

Somatosensory cortices are required for the acquisition of morphine-induced conditioned place preference.

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Zhiqiang Meng

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Sensory system information is thought to play an important role in drug addiction related responses. However, how somatic sensory information participates in the drug related behaviors is still unclear. Many studies demonstrated that drug addiction represents a pathological usurpation of neural mechanisms of learning and memory that normally relate to the pursuit of rewards. Thus, elucidate the role of somatic sensory in drug related learning and memory is of particular importance to understand the neurobiological mechanisms of drug addiction. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In the present study, we investigated the role of somatosensory system in reward-related associative learning using the conditioned place preference model. Lesions were made in somatosensory cortices either before or after conditioning training. We found that lesion of somatosensory cortices before, rather than after morphine conditioning impaired the acquisition of place preference. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate that somatosensory cortices are necessary for the acquisition but not retention of morphine induced place preference.

Altered thalamocortical rhythmicity and connectivity in mice lacking CaV3.1 T-type Ca2+ channels in unconsciousness

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Choi, Soonwook; Yu, Eunah; Lee, Seongwon; Llinás, Rodolfo R.

2015-01-01

In unconscious status (e.g., deep sleep and anesthetic unconsciousness) where cognitive functions are not generated there is still a significant level of brain activity present. Indeed, the electrophysiology of the unconscious brain is characterized by well-defined thalamocortical rhythmicity. Here we address the ionic basis for such thalamocortical rhythms during unconsciousness. In particular, we address the role of CaV3.1 T-type Ca2+ channels, which are richly expressed in thalamic neurons. Toward this aim, we examined the electrophysiological and behavioral phenotypes of mice lacking CaV3.1 channels (CaV3.1 knockout) during unconsciousness induced by ketamine or ethanol administration. Our findings indicate that CaV3.1 KO mice displayed attenuated low-frequency oscillations in thalamocortical loops, especially in the 1- to 4-Hz delta band, compared with control mice (CaV3.1 WT). Intriguingly, we also found that CaV3.1 KO mice exhibited augmented high-frequency oscillations during unconsciousness. In a behavioral measure of unconsciousness dynamics, CaV3.1 KO mice took longer to fall into the unconscious state than controls. In addition, such unconscious events had a shorter duration than those of control mice. The thalamocortical interaction level between mediodorsal thalamus and frontal cortex in CaV3.1 KO mice was significantly lower, especially for delta band oscillations, compared with that of CaV3.1 WT mice, during unconsciousness. These results suggest that the CaV3.1 channel is required for the generation of a given set of thalamocortical rhythms during unconsciousness. Further, that thalamocortical resonant neuronal activity supported by this channel is important for the control of vigilance states. PMID:26056284

Clinical application of somatosensory amplification in psychosomatic medicine

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Nakao Mutsuhiro

2007-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Many patients with somatoform disorders are frequently encountered in psychosomatic clinics as well as in primary care clinics. To assess such patients objectively, the concept of somatosensory amplification may be useful. Somatosensory amplification refers to the tendency to experience a somatic sensation as intense, noxious, and disturbing. It may have a role in a variety of medical conditions characterized by somatic symptoms that are disproportionate to demonstrable organ pathology. It may also explain some of the variability in somatic symptomatology found among different patients with the same serious medical disorder. It has been assessed with a self-report questionnaire, the Somatosensory Amplification Scale. This instrument was developed in a clinical setting in the U.S., and the reliability and validity of the Japanese and Turkish versions have been confirmed as well. Many studies have attempted to clarify the specific role of somatosensory amplification as a pathogenic mechanism in somatization. It has been reported that somatosensory amplification does not correlate with heightened sensitivity to bodily sensations and that emotional reactivity exerts its influence on somatization via a negatively biased reporting style. According to our recent electroencephalographic study, somatosensory amplification appears to reflect some aspects of long-latency cognitive processing rather than short-latency interoceptive sensitivity. The concept of somatosensory amplification can be useful as an indicator of somatization in the therapy of a broad range of disorders, from impaired self-awareness to various psychiatric disorders. It also provides useful information for choosing appropriate pharmacological or psychological therapy. While somatosensory amplification has a role in the presentation of somatic symptoms, it is closely associated with other factors, namely, anxiety, depression, and alexithymia that may also influence the same

A new psychometric questionnaire for reporting of somatosensory percepts

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Kim, L. H.; McLeod, R. S.; Kiss, Z. H. T.

2018-02-01

Objective. There have been remarkable advances over the past decade in neural prostheses to restore lost motor function. However, restoration of somatosensory feedback, which is essential for fine motor control and user acceptance, has lagged behind. With an increasing interest in using electrical stimulation to restore somatosensory sensations within the peripheral (PNS) and central nervous systems (CNS), it is critical to characterize the percepts evoked by electrical stimulation in a standardized manner with a validated psychometric questionnaire. This will allow comparison of results from applications at various nervous system levels in multiple settings. Approach. We compiled a summary of published reports of somatosensory percepts that were elicited by electrical stimulation in humans and used these to develop a new psychometric questionnaire. Results. This new questionnaire was able to characterize subjective evoked sensations with good test-retest reliability (Spearman’s correlation coefficients ranging 0.716  ⩽  ρ  ⩽  1.000, p  ⩽  0.005) in 13 subjects receiving stimulation through neural implants in both the CNS and PNS. Furthermore, the new questionnaire captured more descriptors (M  =  2.65, SD  =  0.91) that would have been missed by being categorized as ‘other sensations’, using a previous questionnaire (M  =  1.40, SD  =  0.77, t(12)  =  -10.24, p  psychometric questionnaire will aid in establishing consistency and standardization of reporting in future studies of somatosensory neural prostheses.

Keeping in Touch With the Visual System: Spatial Alignment and Multisensory Integration of Visual-Somatosensory Inputs

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Jeannette Rose Mahoney

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Correlated sensory inputs coursing along the individual sensory processing hierarchies arrive at multisensory convergence zones in cortex where inputs are processed in an integrative manner. The exact hierarchical level of multisensory convergence zones and the timing of their inputs are still under debate, although increasingly, evidence points to multisensory integration at very early sensory processing levels. The objective of the current study was to determine, both psychophysically and electrophysiologically, whether differential visual-somatosensory integration patterns exist for stimuli presented to the same versus opposite hemifields. Using high-density electrical mapping and complementary psychophysical data, we examined multisensory integrative processing for combinations of visual and somatosensory inputs presented to both left and right spatial locations. We assessed how early during sensory processing visual-somatosensory (VS interactions were seen in the event-related potential and whether spatial alignment of the visual and somatosensory elements resulted in differential integration effects. Reaction times to all VS pairings were significantly faster than those to the unisensory conditions, regardless of spatial alignment, pointing to engagement of integrative multisensory processing in all conditions. In support, electrophysiological results revealed significant differences between multisensory simultaneous VS and summed V+S responses, regardless of the spatial alignment of the constituent inputs. Nonetheless, multisensory effects were earlier in the aligned conditions, and were found to be particularly robust in the case of right-sided inputs (beginning at just 55ms. In contrast to previous work on audio-visual and audio-somatosensory inputs, the current work suggests a degree of spatial specificity to the earliest detectable multisensory integrative effects in response to visual-somatosensory pairings.

Assessing Somatosensory Utilization during Unipedal Postural Control.

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Goel, Rahul; De Dios, Yiri E; Gadd, Nichole E; Caldwell, Erin E; Peters, Brian T; Reschke, Millard F; Bloomberg, Jacob J; Oddsson, Lars I E; Mulavara, Ajitkumar P

2017-01-01

Multisensory-visual, vestibular and somatosensory information is integrated for appropriate postural control. The primary goal of this study was to assess somatosensory utilization during a functional motor task of unipedal postural control, in normal healthy adults. Assessing individual bias in the utilization of individual sensory contributions during postural control may help customization of rehabilitation protocols. In this study, a test paradigm of unipedal stance control in supine orientation with and without vision was assessed. Postural control in this test paradigm was hypothesized to utilize predominantly contributions of somatosensory information from the feet and ankle joint, with minimal vestibular input. Fourteen healthy subjects "stood" supine on their dominant leg while strapped to a backpack frame that was freely moving on air-bearings, to remove available otolith tilt cues with respect to gravity that influences postural control when standing upright. The backpack was attached through a cable to a pneumatic cylinder that provided a gravity-like load. Subjects performed three trials each with Eyes-open (EO) and Eyes-closed (EC) while loaded with 60% body weight. There was no difference in unipedal stance time (UST) across the two conditions with EC condition challenging the postural control system greater than the EO condition. Stabilogram-diffusion analysis (SDA) indicated that the critical mean square displacement was significantly different between the two conditions. Vestibular cues, both in terms of magnitude and the duration for which relevant information was available for postural control in this test paradigm, were minimized. These results support our hypothesis that maintaining unipedal stance in supine orientation without vision, minimizes vestibular contribution and thus predominantly utilizes somatosensory information for postural control.

Characterization of early cortical population response to thalamocortical input in vitro

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Michael Raymond Heliodor Hill

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The in vitro thalamocortical slice preparation of mouse barrel cortex allows for stimulation of the cortex through its natural afferent thalamocortical pathway. This preparation was used here to investigate the first stage of cortical processing in the large postsynaptic dendritic networks as revealed by voltage sensitive dye imaging. We identified the precise location and dimensions of two clearly distinguishable dendritic networks, one in the granular layer IV and one in the infragranular layer V and VI and showed that they have different physiological properties. DiI fluorescent staining further revealed that thalamocortical axons project on to these two networks in the typical barrel like form, not only in the granular but also in the infragranular layer. Finally we investigated the short term dynamics of both the voltage sensitive dye imaging signal and the local field potential in response to a train of eight-pulses at various frequencies in both these layers. We found evidence of differences in the plasticity between the first two response peaks compared to the remaining six peaks as well as differences in short term plasticity between the voltage sensitive dye imaging response and the local field potential. Our findings suggest, that at least early cortical processing takes place in two separate dendritic networks that may stand at the beginning of further parallel computation. The detailed characterization of the parameters of these networks may provide tools for further research into the complex dynamics of large dendritic networks and their role in cortical computation.

Steady-state dynamics and experience-dependent plasticity of dendritic spines of layer 4/5a pyramidal neurons in somatosensory cortex

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Amaya Miquelajauregui

2014-04-01

Full Text Available The steady state dynamics and experience-dependent plasticity of dendritic spines of layer (L 2/3 and L5B cortical pyramidal neurons have recently been assessed using in vivo two-photon microscopy (Trachtenberg et al., 2002; Zuo et al., 2005; Holtmaat et al., 2006. In contrast, not much is known about spine dynamics in L4/5a neurons, regarded as direct recipients of thalamocortical input (Constantinople and Bruno, 2013. In the adult mouse somatosensory cortex (SCx, the transcription factor Ebf2 is enriched in excitatory neurons of L4/5a, including pyramidal neurons. We assessed the molecular and electrophysiological properties of these neurons as well as the morphology of their apical tufts (Scholl analysis and cortical outputs (optogenetics within the SCx. To test the hypothesis that L4/5a pyramidal neurons play an important role in sensory processing (given their key laminar position; soma depth ~450-480 µm, we successfully labeled them in Ebf2-Cre mice with EGFP by expressing recombinant rAAV vectors in utero. Using longitudinal in vivo two-photon microscopy through a craniotomy (Mostany and Portera-Cailliau, 2008, we repeatedly imaged spines in apical dendritic tufts of L4/5a neurons under basal conditions and after sensory deprivation. Under steady-state conditions in adults, the morphology of the apical tufts and the mean spine density were stable at 0.39 ± 0.05 spines/μm (comparable to L5B, Mostany et al., 2011. Interestingly, spine elimination increases 4-8 days after sensory deprivation, probably due to input loss. This suggests that Ebf2+ L4/5a neurons could be involved in early steps of processing of thalamocortical information.

High serotonin levels during brain development alter the structural input-output connectivity of neural networks in the rat somatosensory layer IV

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Stéphanie eMiceli

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Homeostatic regulation of serotonin (5-HT concentration is critical for normal topographical organization and development of thalamocortical (TC afferent circuits. Down-regulation of the serotonin transporter (SERT and the consequent impaired reuptake of 5-HT at the synapse, results in a reduced terminal branching of developing TC afferents within the primary somatosensory cortex (S1. Despite the presence of multiple genetic models, the effect of high extracellular 5-HT levels on the structure and function of developing intracortical neural networks is far from being understood. Here, using juvenile SERT knockout (SERT-/- rats we investigated, in vitro, the effect of increased 5-HT levels on the structural organization of (i the thalamocortical projections of the ventroposteromedial thalamic nucleus towards S1, (ii the general barrel-field pattern and (iii the electrophysiological and morphological properties of the excitatory cell population in layer IV of S1 (spiny stellate and pyramidal cells. Our results confirmed previous findings that high levels of 5-HT during development lead to a reduction of the topographical precision of TCA projections towards the barrel cortex. Also, the barrel pattern was altered but not abolished in SERT-/- rats. In layer IV, both excitatory spiny stellate and pyramidal cells showed a significantly reduced intracolumnar organization of their axonal projections. In addition, the layer IV spiny stellate cells gave rise to a prominent projection towards the infragranular layer Vb. Our findings point to a structural and functional reorganization, of TCAs, as well as early stage intracortical microcircuitry, following the disruption of 5-HT reuptake during critical developmental periods. The increased projection pattern of the layer IV neurons suggests that the intracortical network changes are not limited to the main entry layer IV but may also affect the subsequent stages of the canonical circuits of the barrel

Intraoperative intrinsic optical imaging of human somatosensory cortex during neurosurgical operations.

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Sato, Katsushige; Nariai, Tadashi; Momose-Sato, Yoko; Kamino, Kohtaro

2017-07-01

Intrinsic optical imaging as developed by Grinvald et al. is a powerful technique for monitoring neural function in the in vivo central nervous system. The advent of this dye-free imaging has also enabled us to monitor human brain function during neurosurgical operations. We briefly describe our own experience in functional mapping of the human somatosensory cortex, carried out using intraoperative optical imaging. The maps obtained demonstrate new additional evidence of a hierarchy for sensory response patterns in the human primary somatosensory cortex.

Feedforward somatosensory inhibition is normal in cervical dystonia.

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Ferrè, Elisa R; Ganos, Christos; Bhatia, Kailash P; Haggard, Patrick

2015-03-01

Insufficient cortical inhibition is a key pathophysiological finding in dystonia. Subliminal sensory stimuli were reported to transiently inhibit somatosensory processing. Here we investigated whether such subliminal feedforward inhibition is reduced in patients with cervical dystonia. Sixteen cervical dystonia patients and 16 matched healthy controls performed a somatosensory detection task. We measured the drop in sensitivity to detect a threshold-level digital nerve shock when it was preceded by a subliminal conditioning shock, compared to when it was not. Subliminal conditioning shocks reduced sensitivity to threshold stimuli to a similar extent in both patients and controls, suggesting that somatosensory subliminal feedforward inhibition is normal in cervical dystonia. Somatosensory feedforward inhibition was normal in this group of cervical dystonia patients. Our results qualify previous concepts of a general dystonic deficit in sensorimotor inhibitory processing. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of mastication on human somatosensory processing: A study using somatosensory-evoked potentials.

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Nakata, Hiroki; Aoki, Mai; Sakamoto, Kiwako

2017-04-01

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of mastication on somatosensory processing using somatosensory-evoked potentials (SEPs). Fourteen healthy subjects received a median nerve stimulation at the right wrist under two conditions: Mastication and Control. SEPs were recorded in five sessions for approximately seven minutes: Pre, Post 1, 2, 3, and 4. Subjects were asked to chew gum for five minutes after one session in Mastication. Control included the same five sessions. The amplitudes and latencies of P14, N20, P25, N35, P45, and N60 components at C3', frontal N30 component at Fz, and P100 and N140 components at Pz were analyzed. The amplitude of P45-N60 was significantly smaller at Post 1, 2, 3, and 4 than at Pre in Control, but not in Mastication. The latency of P25 was significantly longer at Post 2, 3, and 4 than at Pre in Control, but not in Mastication. The latency of P100 was significantly longer at Post 2 than at Pre in Control, but not in Mastication. These results suggest the significant effects of mastication on the neural activity of human somatosensory processing. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd and Japan Neuroscience Society. All rights reserved.

Neurophysiological changes in the afferent somatosensory system indices in the case of vertebrogenic spine pathology in miners

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Sharbanu Battakova

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Objectives: The aim of the paper was to prove that job conditions impact the state of the afferent part of the somatosensory system in miners. Materials and Methods: Data analysis of the electrophysiological examination of the syndrome in 148 patients, aged from 28 to 55 years, with a mild, moderate and severe degree of the pain syndrome was performed. The control group included 28 people without any pain symptoms. The method used was that of somatosensory stimulated potential (SSP with the potentials amplitude and latency main components taken into consideration. Results: It was proven that the true decrease of the somatosensory stimulated potential SSP N22 (p < 0.05 component amplitudes by 41%; N30 component amplitude tend to decrease by 26%. This proves that the true N22 (p < 0.01 component latency increase by 63.8% corresponds to afferent excitation wave conductibility under the pain syndrome of vertebral pathology through sensitivity pathways mainly in the posterior spinal cord columns and then, through the parts of the brain stem, involving the cerebral cortex, which is confirmed by the fact that the P38 and P46 components amplitudes tend to decrease. In addition to this, the proven N10–N13 (p < 0.05, N13–N20 (p < 0.05, N10–N20 (p < 0.05 intervals increases by 43.5–41.8–38.7%, respectively, correspond to the nervous impulse conductibility through the peripheral nervous system structures and allow to reveal the subclinical slowdown of impulse conductibility, which indicates that the conducting system is changed even under a mild pain syndrome. Conclusions: It was found that the data obtained allow for the better understanding of how the neuropathological pain syndrome under vertebral spine pathology is formed.

Inward rectifier potassium current IKir promotes intrinsic pacemaker activity of thalamocortical neurons.

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Amarillo, Yimy; Tissone, Angela I; Mato, Germán; Nadal, Marcela S

2018-06-01

Slow repetitive burst firing by hyperpolarized thalamocortical (TC) neurons correlates with global slow rhythms (rectifier potassium current I Kir induces repetitive burst firing at slow and delta frequency bands. We demonstrate this in mouse TC neurons in brain slices by manipulating the Kir maximum conductance with dynamic clamp. We also performed a thorough theoretical analysis that explains how the unique properties of I Kir enable this current to induce slow periodic bursting in TC neurons. We describe a new ionic mechanism based on the voltage- and time-dependent interaction of I Kir and hyperpolarization-activated cationic current I h that endows TC neurons with the ability to oscillate spontaneously at very low frequencies, even below 0.5 Hz. Bifurcation analysis of conductance-based models of increasing complexity demonstrates that I Kir induces bistability of the membrane potential at the same time that it induces sustained oscillations in combination with I h and increases the robustness of low threshold-activated calcium current I T -mediated oscillations. NEW & NOTEWORTHY The strong inwardly rectifying potassium current I Kir of thalamocortical neurons displays a region of negative slope conductance in the current-voltage relationship that generates potassium currents activated by hyperpolarization. Bifurcation analysis shows that I Kir induces bistability of the membrane potential; generates sustained subthreshold oscillations by interacting with the hyperpolarization-activated cationic current I h ; and increases the robustness of oscillations mediated by the low threshold-activated calcium current I T . Upregulation of I Kir in thalamocortical neurons induces repetitive burst firing at slow and delta frequency bands (<4 Hz).

Making sense out of spinal cord somatosensory development

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Seal, Rebecca P.

2016-01-01

The spinal cord integrates and relays somatosensory input, leading to complex motor responses. Research over the past couple of decades has identified transcription factor networks that function during development to define and instruct the generation of diverse neuronal populations within the spinal cord. A number of studies have now started to connect these developmentally defined populations with their roles in somatosensory circuits. Here, we review our current understanding of how neuronal diversity in the dorsal spinal cord is generated and we discuss the logic underlying how these neurons form the basis of somatosensory circuits. PMID:27702783

ASYMMETRY OF SOMATOSENSORY CORTICAL PLASTICITY IN PATIENT WITH BILATERAL CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME

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Hikmat Hadoush

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Background: Following peripheral nerve lesion, the adult somatosensory system showedcortical reorganizational abilities.Previous studies identified the digits' somatotopy map changes and somatosensory cortical plasticity in response to the Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS that affected the dominant hand only. Objective: Answering the remained question is that what the extent of the cortical plasticity would be in left and right somatosensory cortices in response to CTS affecting the right and left hands simultaneously. Methods: Cortical representations activated by tactile stimulation of median nerve (index and ulnar nerve (little of both dominant and non-dominant hands were evaluated by Magnetoencephalography (MEG systemfor healthy participants and patient with bilateral moderate CTS. index – little fingers'somatotopy map and inter-digit cortical distance was then mapped and calculated for each participant on the real MRI data and the 3D brain surface image. Results: in healthy participants, index – little inter-digit somatosensory cortical distance of right hand (dominant was significantly larger than the index – little inter-digitsomatosensory cortical distance of left hand (11.2±2.1mm vs.7.0±2.9mm, P = 0.006. However, in patient with bilateral CTS, the index – little inter-digit somatosensory cortical distance of righthand (dominant was significantly smaller than the index – little inter-digit somatosensory cortical distance of left hand (5.8mm vs. 7.4mm. Conclusion: our data could be interpreted as the hand use – dependency served more median nerve – cortical territory from the ulnar nerve invasion in the right somatotopy map (left hand than the left somatotopy map of the right hand.

Modafinil enhances thalamocortical activity by increasing neuronal electrotonic coupling

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Urbano, Francisco J.; Leznik, Elena; Llinás, Rodolfo R.

2007-01-01

Modafinil (Provigil, Modiodal), an antinarcoleptic and mood-enhancing drug, is shown here to sharpen thalamocortical activity and to increase electrical coupling between cortical interneurons and between nerve cells in the inferior olivary nucleus. After irreversible pharmacological block of connexin permeability (i.e., by using either 18β-glycyrrhetinic derivatives or mefloquine), modafinil restored electrotonic coupling within 30 min. It was further established that this restoration is implemented through a Ca2+/calmodulin protein kinase II-dependent step. PMID:17640897

Inhibition of somatosensory-evoked cortical responses by a weak leading stimulus.

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Nakagawa, Kei; Inui, Koji; Yuge, Louis; Kakigi, Ryusuke

2014-11-01

We previously demonstrated that auditory-evoked cortical responses were suppressed by a weak leading stimulus in a manner similar to the prepulse inhibition (PPI) of startle reflexes. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether a similar phenomenon was present in the somatosensory system, and also whether this suppression reflected an inhibitory process. We recorded somatosensory-evoked magnetic fields following stimulation of the median nerve and evaluated the extent by which they were suppressed by inserting leading stimuli at an intensity of 2.5-, 1.5-, 1.1-, or 0.9-fold the sensory threshold (ST) in healthy participants (Experiment 1). The results obtained demonstrated that activity in the secondary somatosensory cortex in the hemisphere contralateral to the stimulated side (cSII) was significantly suppressed by a weak leading stimulus with the intensity larger than 1.1-fold ST. This result implied that the somatosensory system had an inhibitory process similar to that of PPI. We then presented two successive leading stimuli before the test stimulus, and compared the extent of suppression between the test stimulus-evoked responses and those obtained with the second prepulse alone and with two prepulses (first and second) (Experiment 2). When two prepulses were preceded, cSII responses to the second prepulse were suppressed by the first prepulse, whereas the ability of the second prepulse to suppress the test stimulus remained unchanged. These results suggested the presence of at least two individual pathways; response-generating and inhibitory pathways. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

SOMATOSENSORY EVOKED POTENTIALS IN DIABETES MELLITUS TYPE - 2

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Rekha

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Diabetes mellitus is the most common metabolic disorder affecting majority of population. It is estimated that over 400 million people throughout the world have diabetes. It has progressed to be a pandemic from an epidemic causing morbidity and mortality in the population. Among the many complications of diabetes, diabetic neuropathies contribute majorly to the morbidity associated with the disease. Axonal conduction is affected by elevated levels of protein kinase c causing neuronal ischemia; decreased ce llular myoinositol affecting sodium potassium ATPase pump leads to decreased nerve conduction; Somatosensory E voked P otentials (SSEPs reflect the activity of somatosensory pathways mediated through the dorsal columns of the spinal cord and the specific so matosensory cortex. Recording of Somatosensory Evoked Potentials in diabetics is done to assess the sensory involvement of spinal cord. Presence of SEPs provides clear evidence for axonal continuity and by using different stimulation sites, the rate of reg eneration can be determined. Both onset and peak latencies of all SEP components are prolonged in patients with diabetes. Present study is done to compare somatosensory evoked potentials in diabetics and normal subjects. MATERIALS AND METHOD S: The present study was undertaken at the Upgraded Department of Physiology, Osmania Medical College, Koti, Hyderabad. The study was conducted on subjects, both male and female in the age group of 45 to 55 years, suffering from type II diabetes excluding other neurologi cal disorders. Non - invasive method of estimation of nerve conduction studies using SFEMG/EP — Electromyography or evoked potential system (Nicolet systems — USA using surface electrodes with automated computerized monitor attached with printer is used. RESUL TS : ANOVA showed statistically significant N9 latency (right & left sides. Latencies of all the components of SSEPs were more significant than amplitudes in Diabetic

Theta-Burst Stimulation-Induced Plasticity over Primary Somatosensory Cortex Changes Somatosensory Temporal Discrimination in Healthy Humans

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Conte, Antonella; Rocchi, Lorenzo; Nardella, Andrea; Dispenza, Sabrina; Scontrini, Alessandra; Khan, Nashaba; Berardelli, Alfredo

2012-01-01

Background The somatosensory temporal discrimination threshold (STDT) measures the ability to perceive two stimuli as being sequential. Precisely how the single cerebral structures contribute in controlling the STDT is partially known and no information is available about whether STDT can be modulated by plasticity-inducing protocols. Methodology/Principal Findings To investigate how the cortical and cerebellar areas contribute to the STDT we used transcranial magnetic stimulation and a neuronavigation system. We enrolled 18 healthy volunteers and 10 of these completed all the experimental sessions, including the control experiments. STDT was measured on the left hand before and after applying continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) on the right primary somatosensory area (S1), pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA), right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and left cerebellar hemisphere. We then investigated whether intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS) on the right S1 improved the STDT. After right S1 cTBS, STDT values increased whereas after iTBS to the same cortical site they decreased. cTBS over the DLPFC and left lateral cerebellum left the STDT statistically unchanged. cTBS over the pre-SMA also left the STDT statistically unchanged, but it increased the number of errors subjects made in distinguishing trials testing a single stimulus and those testing paired stimuli. Conclusions/Significance Our findings obtained by applying TBS to the cortical areas involved in processing sensory discrimination show that the STDT is encoded in S1, possibly depends on intrinsic S1 neural circuit properties, and can be modulated by plasticity-inducing TBS protocols delivered over S1. Our findings, giving further insight into mechanisms involved in somatosensory temporal discrimination, help interpret STDT abnormalities in movement disorders including dystonia and Parkinson's disease. PMID:22412964

Theta-burst stimulation-induced plasticity over primary somatosensory cortex changes somatosensory temporal discrimination in healthy humans.

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Antonella Conte

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The somatosensory temporal discrimination threshold (STDT measures the ability to perceive two stimuli as being sequential. Precisely how the single cerebral structures contribute in controlling the STDT is partially known and no information is available about whether STDT can be modulated by plasticity-inducing protocols. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: To investigate how the cortical and cerebellar areas contribute to the STDT we used transcranial magnetic stimulation and a neuronavigation system. We enrolled 18 healthy volunteers and 10 of these completed all the experimental sessions, including the control experiments. STDT was measured on the left hand before and after applying continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS on the right primary somatosensory area (S1, pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA, right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC and left cerebellar hemisphere. We then investigated whether intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS on the right S1 improved the STDT. After right S1 cTBS, STDT values increased whereas after iTBS to the same cortical site they decreased. cTBS over the DLPFC and left lateral cerebellum left the STDT statistically unchanged. cTBS over the pre-SMA also left the STDT statistically unchanged, but it increased the number of errors subjects made in distinguishing trials testing a single stimulus and those testing paired stimuli. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our findings obtained by applying TBS to the cortical areas involved in processing sensory discrimination show that the STDT is encoded in S1, possibly depends on intrinsic S1 neural circuit properties, and can be modulated by plasticity-inducing TBS protocols delivered over S1. Our findings, giving further insight into mechanisms involved in somatosensory temporal discrimination, help interpret STDT abnormalities in movement disorders including dystonia and Parkinson's disease.

Vestibular-somatosensory interactions: effects of passive whole-body rotation on somatosensory detection.

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Elisa Raffaella Ferrè

Full Text Available Vestibular signals are strongly integrated with information from several other sensory modalities. For example, vestibular stimulation was reported to improve tactile detection. However, this improvement could reflect either a multimodal interaction or an indirect interaction driven by vestibular effects on spatial attention and orienting. Here we investigate whether natural vestibular activation induced by passive whole-body rotation influences tactile detection. In particular, we assessed the ability to detect faint tactile stimuli to the fingertips of the left and right hand during spatially congruent or incongruent rotations. We found that passive whole-body rotations significantly enhanced sensitivity to faint shocks, without affecting response bias. Critically, this enhancement of somatosensory sensitivity did not depend on the spatial congruency between the direction of rotation and the hand stimulated. Thus, our results support a multimodal interaction, likely in brain areas receiving both vestibular and somatosensory signals.

Assessing Somatosensory Utilization during Unipedal Postural Control

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Goel, Rahul; De Dios, Yiri E.; Gadd, Nichole E.; Caldwell, Erin E.; Peters, Brian T.; Reschke, Millard F.; Bloomberg, Jacob J.; Oddsson, Lars I. E.; Mulavara, Ajitkumar P.

2017-01-01

Multisensory—visual, vestibular and somatosensory information is integrated for appropriate postural control. The primary goal of this study was to assess somatosensory utilization during a functional motor task of unipedal postural control, in normal healthy adults. Assessing individual bias in the utilization of individual sensory contributions during postural control may help customization of rehabilitation protocols. In this study, a test paradigm of unipedal stance control in supine orie...

The Thalamocortical Projection Systems in Primate: An Anatomical Support for Multisensory and Sensorimotor Interplay

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Cappe, Céline; Morel, Anne; Barone, Pascal

2009-01-01

Multisensory and sensorimotor integrations are usually considered to occur in superior colliculus and cerebral cortex, but few studies proposed the thalamus as being involved in these integrative processes. We investigated whether the organization of the thalamocortical (TC) systems for different modalities partly overlap, representing an anatomical support for multisensory and sensorimotor interplay in thalamus. In 2 macaque monkeys, 6 neuroanatomical tracers were injected in the rostral and caudal auditory cortex, posterior parietal cortex (PE/PEa in area 5), and dorsal and ventral premotor cortical areas (PMd, PMv), demonstrating the existence of overlapping territories of thalamic projections to areas of different modalities (sensory and motor). TC projections, distinct from the ones arising from specific unimodal sensory nuclei, were observed from motor thalamus to PE/PEa or auditory cortex and from sensory thalamus to PMd/PMv. The central lateral nucleus and the mediodorsal nucleus project to all injected areas, but the most significant overlap across modalities was found in the medial pulvinar nucleus. The present results demonstrate the presence of thalamic territories integrating different sensory modalities with motor attributes. Based on the divergent/convergent pattern of TC and corticothalamic projections, 4 distinct mechanisms of multisensory and sensorimotor interplay are proposed. PMID:19150924

Reorganization of the Human Somatosensory Cortex in Hand Dystonia

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Maria Jose Catalan

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Background and Purpose: Abnormalities of finger representations in the somatosensory cortex have been identified in patients with focal hand dystonia. Measuring blood flow with positron emission tomography (PET can be use to demonstrate functional localization of receptive fields. Methods: A vibratory stimulus was applied to the right thumb and little finger of six healthy volunteers and six patients with focal hand dystonia to map their receptive fields using H215O PET. Results: The cortical finger representations in the primary somatosensory cortex were closer to each other in patients than in normal subjects. No abnormalities were found in secondary somatosensory cortex, but the somatotopy there is less well distinguished. Conclusions: These data confirm prior electrophysiological and functional neuroimaging observations showing abnormalities of finger representations in somatosensory cortex of patients with focal hand dystonia.

Role of inhibitory feedback for information processing in thalamocortical circuits

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Mayer, Joerg; Schuster, Heinz Georg; Claussen, Jens Christian

2006-01-01

The information transfer in the thalamus is blocked dynamically during sleep, in conjunction with the occurrence of spindle waves. In order to describe the dynamic mechanisms which control the sensory transfer of information, it is necessary to have a qualitative model for the response properties of thalamic neurons. As the theoretical understanding of the mechanism remains incomplete, we analyze two modeling approaches for a recent experiment by Le Masson et al. [Nature (London) 417, 854 (2002)] on the thalamocortical loop. We use a conductance based model in order to motivate an extension of the Hindmarsh-Rose model, which mimics experimental observations of Le Masson et al. Typically, thalamic neurons posses two different firing modes, depending on their membrane potential. At depolarized potentials, the cells fire in a single spike mode and relay synaptic inputs in a one-to-one manner to the cortex. If the cell gets hyperpolarized, T-type calcium currents generate burst-mode firing which leads to a decrease in the spike transfer. In thalamocortical circuits, the cell membrane gets hyperpolarized by recurrent inhibitory feedback loops. In the case of reciprocally coupled excitatory and inhibitory neurons, inhibitory feedback leads to metastable self-sustained oscillations, which mask the incoming input, and thereby reduce the information transfer significantly

Modulation of Somatosensory Alpha Rhythm by Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation at Mu-Frequency

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Christopher Gundlach

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS is emerging as an interventional tool to modulate different functions of the brain, potentially by interacting with intrinsic ongoing neuronal oscillations. Functionally different intrinsic alpha oscillations are found throughout the cortex. Yet it remains unclear whether tACS is capable of specifically modulating the somatosensory mu-rhythm in amplitude.Objectives: We used tACS to modulate mu-alpha oscillations in amplitude. When compared to sham stimulation we expected a modulation of mu-alpha oscillations but not visual alpha oscillations by tACS.Methods: Individual mu-alpha frequencies were determined in 25 participants. Subsequently, blocks of tACS with individual mu-alpha frequency and sham stimulation were applied over primary somatosensory cortex (SI. Electroencephalogram (EEG was recorded before and after either stimulation or sham. Modulations of mu-alpha and, for control, visual alpha amplitudes were then compared between tACS and sham.Results: Somatosensory mu-alpha oscillations decreased in amplitude after tACS was applied at participants’ individual mu-alpha frequency. No changes in amplitude were observed for sham stimulation. Furthermore, visual alpha oscillations were not affected by tACS or sham, respectively.Conclusion: Our results demonstrate the capability of tACS to specifically modulate the targeted somatosensory mu-rhythm when the tACS frequency is tuned to the individual endogenous rhythm and applied over somatosensory areas. Our results are in contrast to previously reported amplitude increases of visual alpha oscillations induced by tACS applied over visual cortex. Our results may point to a specific interaction between our stimulation protocol and the functional architecture of the somatosensory system.

Plasticity-Related Gene 1 Affects Mouse Barrel Cortex Function via Strengthening of Glutamatergic Thalamocortical Transmission.

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Unichenko, Petr; Kirischuk, Sergei; Yang, Jenq-Wei; Baumgart, Jan; Roskoden, Thomas; Schneider, Patrick; Sommer, Angela; Horta, Guilherme; Radyushkin, Konstantin; Nitsch, Robert; Vogt, Johannes; Luhmann, Heiko J

2016-07-01

Plasticity-related gene-1 (PRG-1) is a brain-specific protein that modulates glutamatergic synaptic transmission. Here we investigated the functional role of PRG-1 in adolescent and adult mouse barrel cortex both in vitro and in vivo. Compared with wild-type (WT) animals, PRG-1-deficient (KO) mice showed specific behavioral deficits in tests assessing sensorimotor integration and whisker-based sensory discrimination as shown in the beam balance/walking test and sandpaper tactile discrimination test, respectively. At P25-31, spontaneous network activity in the barrel cortex in vivo was higher in KO mice compared with WT littermates, but not at P16-19. At P16-19, sensory evoked cortical responses in vivo elicited by single whisker stimulation were comparable in KO and WT mice. In contrast, at P25-31 evoked responses were smaller in amplitude and longer in duration in WT animals, whereas KO mice revealed no such developmental changes. In thalamocortical slices from KO mice, spontaneous activity was increased already at P16-19, and glutamatergic thalamocortical inputs to Layer 4 spiny stellate neurons were potentiated. We conclude that genetic ablation of PRG-1 modulates already at P16-19 spontaneous and evoked excitability of the barrel cortex, including enhancement of thalamocortical glutamatergic inputs to Layer 4, which distorts sensory processing in adulthood. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press.

Influence of dopaminergically mediated reward on somatosensory decision-making.

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Burkhard Pleger

2009-07-01

Full Text Available Reward-related dopaminergic influences on learning and overt behaviour are well established, but any influence on sensory decision-making is largely unknown. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI while participants judged electric somatosensory stimuli on one hand or other, before being rewarded for correct performance at trial end via a visual signal, at one of four anticipated financial levels. Prior to the procedure, participants received either placebo (saline, a dopamine agonist (levodopa, or an antagonist (haloperidol.higher anticipated reward improved tactile decisions. Visually signalled reward reactivated primary somatosensory cortex for the judged hand, more strongly for higher reward. After receiving a higher reward on one trial, somatosensory activations and decisions were enhanced on the next trial. These behavioural and neural effects were all enhanced by levodopa and attenuated by haloperidol, indicating dopaminergic dependency. Dopaminergic reward-related influences extend even to early somatosensory cortex and sensory decision-making.

Developmental synchrony of thalamocortical circuits in the neonatal brain.

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Poh, Joann S; Li, Yue; Ratnarajah, Nagulan; Fortier, Marielle V; Chong, Yap-Seng; Kwek, Kenneth; Saw, Seang-Mei; Gluckman, Peter D; Meaney, Michael J; Qiu, Anqi

2015-08-01

The thalamus is a deep gray matter structure and consists of axonal fibers projecting to the entire cortex, which provide the anatomical support for its sensorimotor and higher-level cognitive functions. There is limited in vivo evidence on the normal thalamocortical development, especially in early life. In this study, we aimed to investigate the developmental patterns of the cerebral cortex, the thalamic substructures, and their connectivity with the cortex in the first few weeks of the postnatal brain. We hypothesized that there is developmental synchrony of the thalamus, its cortical projections, and corresponding target cortical structures. We employed diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and divided the thalamus into five substructures respectively connecting to the frontal, precentral, postcentral, temporal, and parietal and occipital cortex. T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to measure cortical thickness. We found age-related increases in cortical thickness of bilateral frontal cortex and left temporal cortex in the early postnatal brain. We also found that the development of the thalamic substructures was synchronized with that of their respective thalamocortical connectivity in the first few weeks of the postnatal life. In particular, the right thalamo-frontal substructure had the fastest growth in the early postnatal brain. Our study suggests that the distinct growth patterns of the thalamic substructures are in synchrony with those of the cortex in early life, which may be critical for the development of the cortical and subcortical functional specialization. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Index finger somatosensory evoked potentials in blind Braille readers.

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Giriyappa, Dayananda; Subrahmanyam, Roopakala Mysore; Rangashetty, Srinivasa; Sharma, Rajeev

2009-01-01

Traditionally, vision has been considered the dominant modality in our multi-sensory perception of the surrounding world. Sensory input via non-visual tracts becomes of greater behavioural relevance in totally blind individuals to enable effective interaction with the world around them. These include audition and tactile perceptions, leading to an augmentation in these perceptions when compared with normal sighted individuals. The objective of the present work was to study the index finger somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) in totally blind and normal sighted individuals. SEPs were recorded in 15 Braille reading totally blind females and compared with 15 age-matched normal sighted females. Latency and amplitudes of somatosensory evoked potential waveforms (N9, N13, and N20) were measured. Amplitude of N20 SEP (a cortical somatosensory evoked potential) was significantly larger in the totally blind than in normal sighted individuals (p Braille reading right index finger. Totally blind Braille readers have larger N20 amplitude, suggestive of greater somatosensory cortical representation of the Braille reading index finger.

Reliability of Visual and Somatosensory Feedback in Skilled Movement: The Role of the Cerebellum.

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Mizelle, J C; Oparah, Alexis; Wheaton, Lewis A

2016-01-01

The integration of vision and somatosensation is required to allow for accurate motor behavior. While both sensory systems contribute to an understanding of the state of the body through continuous updating and estimation, how the brain processes unreliable sensory information remains to be fully understood in the context of complex action. Using functional brain imaging, we sought to understand the role of the cerebellum in weighting visual and somatosensory feedback by selectively reducing the reliability of each sense individually during a tool use task. We broadly hypothesized upregulated activation of the sensorimotor and cerebellar areas during movement with reduced visual reliability, and upregulated activation of occipital brain areas during movement with reduced somatosensory reliability. As specifically compared to reduced somatosensory reliability, we expected greater activations of ipsilateral sensorimotor cerebellum for intact visual and somatosensory reliability. Further, we expected that ipsilateral posterior cognitive cerebellum would be affected with reduced visual reliability. We observed that reduced visual reliability results in a trend towards the relative consolidation of sensorimotor activation and an expansion of cerebellar activation. In contrast, reduced somatosensory reliability was characterized by the absence of cerebellar activations and a trend towards the increase of right frontal, left parietofrontal activation, and temporo-occipital areas. Our findings highlight the role of the cerebellum for specific aspects of skillful motor performance. This has relevance to understanding basic aspects of brain functions underlying sensorimotor integration, and provides a greater understanding of cerebellar function in tool use motor control.

Human perception of electrical stimulation on the surface of somatosensory cortex.

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Shivayogi V Hiremath

Full Text Available Recent advancement in electrocorticography (ECoG-based brain-computer interface technology has sparked a new interest in providing somatosensory feedback using ECoG electrodes, i.e., cortical surface electrodes. We conducted a 28-day study of cortical surface stimulation in an individual with arm paralysis due to brachial plexus injury to examine the sensation produced by electrical stimulation of the somatosensory cortex. A high-density ECoG grid was implanted over the somatosensory and motor cortices. Stimulation through cortical surface electrodes over the somatosensory cortex successfully elicited arm and hand sensations in our participant with chronic paralysis. There were three key findings. First, the intensity of perceived sensation increased monotonically with both pulse amplitude and pulse frequency. Second, changing pulse width changed the type of sensation based on qualitative description provided by the human participant. Third, the participant could distinguish between stimulation applied to two neighboring cortical surface electrodes, 4.5 mm center-to-center distance, for three out of seven electrode pairs tested. Taken together, we found that it was possible to modulate sensation intensity, sensation type, and evoke sensations across a range of locations from the fingers to the upper arm using different stimulation electrodes even in an individual with chronic impairment of somatosensory function. These three features are essential to provide effective somatosensory feedback for neuroprosthetic applications.

Phantom somatosensory evoked potentials following selective intraneural electrical stimulation in two amputees.

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Granata, Giuseppe; Di Iorio, Riccardo; Romanello, Roberto; Iodice, Francesco; Raspopovic, Stanisa; Petrini, Francesco; Strauss, Ivo; Valle, Giacomo; Stieglitz, Thomas; Čvančara, Paul; Andreu, David; Divoux, Jean-Louis; Guiraud, David; Wauters, Loic; Hiairrassary, Arthur; Jensen, Winnie; Micera, Silvestro; Rossini, Paolo Maria

2018-06-01

The aim of the paper is to objectively demonstrate that amputees implanted with intraneural interfaces are truly able to feel a sensation in the phantom hand by recording "phantom" somatosensory evoked potentials from the corresponding brain areas. We implanted four transverse intrafascicular multichannel electrodes, available with percutaneous connections to a multichannel electrical stimulator, in the median and ulnar nerves of two left trans-radial amputees. Two channels of the implants that were able to elicit sensations during intraneural nerve stimulation were chosen, in both patients, for recording somatosensory evoked potentials. We recorded reproducible evoked responses by stimulating the median and the ulnar nerves in both cases. Latencies were in accordance with the arrival of somatosensory information to the primary somatosensory cortex. Our results provide evidence that sensations generated by intraneural stimulation are truly perceived by amputees and located in the phantom hand. Moreover, our results strongly suggest that sensations perceived in different parts of the phantom hand result in different evoked responses. Somatosensory evoked potentials obtained by selective intraneural electrical stimulation in amputee patients are a useful tool to provide an objective demonstration of somatosensory feedback in new generation bidirectional prostheses. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Thalamo-Cortical Disruption Contributes to Short-Term Memory Deficits in Patients with Medial Temporal Lobe Damage.

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Voets, Natalie L; Menke, Ricarda A L; Jbabdi, Saad; Husain, Masud; Stacey, Richard; Carpenter, Katherine; Adcock, Jane E

2015-11-01

Short-term (STM) and long-term memory (LTM) have largely been considered as separate brain systems reflecting fronto-parietal and medial temporal lobe (MTL) functions, respectively. This functional dichotomy has been called into question by evidence of deficits on aspects of working memory in patients with MTL damage, suggesting a potentially direct hippocampal contribution to STM. As the hippocampus has direct anatomical connections with the thalamus, we tested the hypothesis that damage to thalamic nuclei regulating cortico-cortical interactions may contribute to STM deficits in patients with hippocampal dysfunction. We used diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging-based tractography to identify anatomical subdivisions in patients with MTL epilepsy. From these, we measured resting-state functional connectivity with detailed cortical divisions of the frontal, temporal, and parietal lobes. Whereas thalamo-temporal functional connectivity reflected LTM performance, thalamo-prefrontal functional connectivity specifically predicted STM performance. Notably, patients with hippocampal volume loss showed thalamic volume loss, most prominent in the pulvinar region, not detected in patients with normal hippocampal volumes. Aberrant thalamo-cortical connectivity in the epileptic hemisphere was mirrored in a loss of behavioral association with STM performance specifically in patients with hippocampal atrophy. These findings identify thalamo-cortical disruption as a potential mechanism contributing to STM deficits in the context of MTL damage. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press.

Structural and functional changes in the somatosensory cortex in euthymic females with bipolar disorder.

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Minuzzi, Luciano; Syan, Sabrina K; Smith, Mara; Hall, Alexander; Hall, Geoffrey Bc; Frey, Benicio N

2017-12-01

Current evidence from neuroimaging data suggests possible dysfunction of the fronto-striatal-limbic circuits in individuals with bipolar disorder. Somatosensory cortical function has been implicated in emotional recognition, risk-taking and affective responses through sensory modalities. This study investigates anatomy and function of the somatosensory cortex in euthymic bipolar women. In total, 68 right-handed euthymic women (bipolar disorder = 32 and healthy controls = 36) between 16 and 45 years of age underwent high-resolution anatomical and functional magnetic resonance imaging during the mid-follicular menstrual phase. The somatosensory cortex was used as a seed region for resting-state functional connectivity analysis. Voxel-based morphometry was used to evaluate somatosensory cortical gray matter volume between groups. We found increased resting-state functional connectivity between the somatosensory cortex and insular cortex, inferior prefrontal gyrus and frontal orbital cortex in euthymic bipolar disorder subjects compared to healthy controls. Voxel-based morphometry analysis showed decreased gray matter in the left somatosensory cortex in the bipolar disorder group. Whole-brain voxel-based morphometry analysis controlled by age did not reveal any additional significant difference between groups. This study is the first to date to evaluate anatomy and function of the somatosensory cortex in a well-characterized sample of euthymic bipolar disorder females. Anatomical and functional changes in the somatosensory cortex in this population might contribute to the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder.

Vestibular-Somatosensory Convergence in Head Movement Control During Locomotion after Long-Duration Space Flight

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Mulavara, Ajitkumar; Ruttley, Tara; Cohen, Helen; Peters, Brian; Miller, Chris; Brady, Rachel; Merkle, Lauren; Bloomberg, Jacob

2010-01-01

Exposure to the microgravity conditions of space flight induces adaptive modification in the control of vestibular-mediated reflexive head movement during locomotion after space flight. Space flight causes astronauts to be exposed to somatosensory adaptation in both the vestibular and body load-sensing (BLS) systems. The goal of these studies was to examine the contributions of vestibular and BLS-mediated somatosensory influences on head movement control during locomotion after long-duration space flight. Subjects were asked to walk on a treadmill driven at 1.8 m/s while performing a visual acuity task. Data were collected using the same testing protocol from three independent subject groups; 1) normal subjects before and after exposure to 30 minutes of 40% bodyweight unloaded treadmill walking, 2) bilateral labyrinthine deficient (LD) patients and 3) astronauts who performed the protocol before and after long duration space flight. Motion data from head and trunk segmental motion data were obtained to calculate the angular head pitch (HP) movements during walking trials while subjects performed the visual task, to estimate the contributions of vestibular reflexive mechanisms in HP movements. Results showed that exposure to unloaded locomotion caused a significant increase in HP movements, whereas in the LD patients the HP movements were significantly decreased. Astronaut subjects results showed a heterogeneous response of both increases and decreases in the amplitude of HP movement. We infer that BLS-mediated somatosensory input centrally modulates vestibular input and can adaptively modify head-movement control during locomotion. Thus, space flight may cause a central adaptation mediated by the converging vestibular and body load-sensing somatosensory systems.

The functional and anatomical dissection of somatosensory subpopulations using mouse genetics

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Claire E Le Pichon

2014-04-01

Full Text Available The word somatosensation comes from joining the Greek word for body (soma with a word for perception (sensation. Somatosensory neurons comprise the largest sensory system in mammals and have nerve endings coursing throughout the skin, viscera, muscle, and bone. Their cell bodies reside in a chain of ganglia adjacent to the dorsal spinal cord (the dorsal root ganglia and at the base of the skull (the trigeminal ganglia. While the neuronal cell bodies are intermingled within the ganglia, the somatosensory system is in reality composed of numerous sub-systems, each specialized to detect distinct stimuli, such as temperature and touch. Historically, somatosensory neurons have been classified using a diverse host of anatomical and physiological parameters, such as the size of the cell body, degree of myelination, histological labeling with markers, specialization of the nerve endings, projection patterns in the spinal cord and brainstem, receptive tuning, and conduction velocity of their action potentials. While useful, the picture that emerged was one of heterogeneity, with many markers at least partially overlapping. More recently, by capitalizing on advances in molecular techniques, researchers have identified specific ion channels and sensory receptors expressed in subsets of sensory neurons. These studies have proved invaluable as they allow genetic access to small subsets of neurons for further molecular dissection. Data being generated from transgenic mice favor the model whereby an array of dedicated neurons is responsible for selectively encoding different modalities. Here we review the current knowledge of the different sensory neuron subtypes in the mouse, the markers used to study them, and the neurogenetic strategies used to define their anatomical projections and functional roles.

A model of microsaccade-related neural responses induced by short-term depression in thalamocortical synapses

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Wujie eYuan

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Microsaccades during fixation have been suggested to counteract visual fading. Recent experi- ments have also observed microsaccade-related neural responses from cellular record, scalp elec- troencephalogram (EEG and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI. The underlying mechanism, however, is not yet understood and highly debated. It has been proposed that the neural activity of primary visual cortex (V1 is a crucial component for counteracting visual adaptation. In this paper, we use computational modeling to investigate how short-term depres- sion (STD in thalamocortical synapses might affect the neural responses of V1 in the presence of microsaccades. Our model not only gives a possible synaptic explanation for microsaccades in counteracting visual fading, but also reproduces several features in experimental findings. These modeling results suggest that STD in thalamocortical synapses plays an important role in microsaccade-related neural responses and the model may be useful for further investigation of behavioral properties and functional roles of microsaccades.

A model of microsaccade-related neural responses induced by short-term depression in thalamocortical synapses

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Yuan, Wu-Jie; Dimigen, Olaf; Sommer, Werner; Zhou, Changsong

2013-01-01

Microsaccades during fixation have been suggested to counteract visual fading. Recent experiments have also observed microsaccade-related neural responses from cellular record, scalp electroencephalogram (EEG), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The underlying mechanism, however, is not yet understood and highly debated. It has been proposed that the neural activity of primary visual cortex (V1) is a crucial component for counteracting visual adaptation. In this paper, we use computational modeling to investigate how short-term depression (STD) in thalamocortical synapses might affect the neural responses of V1 in the presence of microsaccades. Our model not only gives a possible synaptic explanation for microsaccades in counteracting visual fading, but also reproduces several features in experimental findings. These modeling results suggest that STD in thalamocortical synapses plays an important role in microsaccade-related neural responses and the model may be useful for further investigation of behavioral properties and functional roles of microsaccades. PMID:23630494

Intraoperative Neurophysiological Monitoring for Endoscopic Endonasal Approaches to the Skull Base: A Technical Guide

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Harminder Singh

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring during endoscopic, endonasal approaches to the skull base is both feasible and safe. Numerous reports have recently emerged from the literature evaluating the efficacy of different neuromonitoring tests during endonasal procedures, making them relatively well-studied. The authors report on a comprehensive, multimodality approach to monitoring the functional integrity of at risk nervous system structures, including the cerebral cortex, brainstem, cranial nerves, corticospinal tract, corticobulbar tract, and the thalamocortical somatosensory system during endonasal surgery of the skull base. The modalities employed include electroencephalography, somatosensory evoked potentials, free-running and electrically triggered electromyography, transcranial electric motor evoked potentials, and auditory evoked potentials. Methodological considerations as well as benefits and limitations are discussed. The authors argue that, while individual modalities have their limitations, multimodality neuromonitoring provides a real-time, comprehensive assessment of nervous system function and allows for safer, more aggressive management of skull base tumors via the endonasal route.

Somatosensory Representations Link the Perception of Emotional Expressions and Sensory Experience.

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Kragel, Philip A; LaBar, Kevin S

2016-01-01

Studies of human emotion perception have linked a distributed set of brain regions to the recognition of emotion in facial, vocal, and body expressions. In particular, lesions to somatosensory cortex in the right hemisphere have been shown to impair recognition of facial and vocal expressions of emotion. Although these findings suggest that somatosensory cortex represents body states associated with distinct emotions, such as a furrowed brow or gaping jaw, functional evidence directly linking somatosensory activity and subjective experience during emotion perception is critically lacking. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging and multivariate decoding techniques, we show that perceiving vocal and facial expressions of emotion yields hemodynamic activity in right somatosensory cortex that discriminates among emotion categories, exhibits somatotopic organization, and tracks self-reported sensory experience. The findings both support embodied accounts of emotion and provide mechanistic insight into how emotional expressions are capable of biasing subjective experience in those who perceive them.

[Maturation of cerebral somatosensory evoked potentials].

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Cadilhac, J; Zhu, Y; Georgesco, M; Echenne, B; Rodiere, M

1985-07-01

Cerebral somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) were elicited by stimulation of the median nerve and/or posterior tibial nerve in 117 children of 1 day to 16 years old. A major negative wave (N) was consistently recorded from the parietal region of the scalp when the arm was stimulated. The peak latency, the onset latency, the rising time and the duration of H wave are closely correlated with age and body length. The latencies are shortest in the subjects of 1-3 years old. SEPs to lower extremity stimulation were inconstant in the infants before the age of one. The major positive wave (P) has a variable topographic distribution along the middle line, over the scalp. The latencies are also very variable in the different subjects of the same age as well as in the same subject with different locations of active electrode. Among the parameters studied as for N wave, only the rising time of P wave is significantly correlated with age. The latencies of P wave have the shortest value in the subjects of 1-3 years old. The comparison of SEPs to upper and to lower limb stimulations shows that there is no relationship between them in respect to their morphology and amplitude. The minimum value of the latencies of N and P waves was observed at the same age but the difference between the peak latencies of P and N waves in the same subject increases considerably after 2 years of age and reaches the adult value after 5 years of age. These resultats indicate that the maturation of the peripheral somatosensory pathways proceeds at a higher rate than that of the central somatosensory pathways, that the maturation of the somatosensory pathways of the upper limb precedes that of the lower limb, and that the rising time of N or P waves is a good index of cortical maturation. The clinical utility of these SEPs in pediatrics is discussed.

Discriminability of Single and Multichannel Intracortical Microstimulation within Somatosensory Cortex

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Cynthia Kay Overstreet

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The addition of tactile and proprioceptive feedback to neuroprosthetic limbs is expected to significantly improve the control of these devices. Intracortical microstimulation (ICMS of somatosensory cortex is a promising method of delivering this sensory feedback. To date, the main focus of somatosensory ICMS studies has been to deliver discriminable signals, corresponding to varying intensity, to a single location in cortex. However, multiple independent and simultaneous streams of sensory information will need to be encoded by ICMS to provide functionally relevant feedback for a neuroprosthetic limb (e.g. encoding contact events and pressure on multiple digits.In this study, we evaluated the ability of an awake, behaving non-human primate (Macaca mulatta to discriminate ICMS stimuli delivered on multiple electrodes spaced within somatosensory cortex. We delivered serial stimulation on single electrodes to evaluate the discriminability of sensations corresponding to ICMS of distinct cortical locations. Additionally, we delivered trains of multichannel stimulation, derived from a tactile sensor, synchronously across multiple electrodes. Our results indicate that discrimination of multiple ICMS stimuli is a challenging task, but that discriminable sensory percepts can be elicited by both single and multichannel ICMS on electrodes spaced within somatosensory cortex.

Reduction of pain sensitivity after somatosensory therapy in adults with cerebral palsy

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Inmaculada eRiquelme

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Objective. Pain and deficits in somatosensory processing seem to play a relevant role in cerebral palsy (CP. Rehabilitation techniques based on neuroplasticity mechanisms may induce powerful changes in the organization of the primary somatosensory cortex and have been proved to reduce levels of pain and discomfort in neurological pathologies. However, little is known about the efficacy of such interventions for pain sensitivity in CP individuals. Methods. Adults with cerebral palsy participated in the study and were randomly assigned to the intervention (n=17 or the control group (n=20. The intervention group received a somatosensory therapy including 4 types of exercises (touch, proprioception, vibration, and stereognosis. All participants were asked to continue their standardized motor therapy during the study period. Several somatosensory (pain and touch thresholds, stereognosis, propioception, texture recognition and motor parameters (fine motor skills were assessed before, immediately after and three months after the therapy (follow-up. Results. Participants of the intervention group showed a significant reduction on pain sensitivity after treatment and at follow-up after three months, whereas participants in the control group displayed increasing pain sensitivity over time. No improvements were found on touch sensitivity, proprioception, texture recognition or fine motor skills. Conclusions. Data suggest the possibility that somatosensory therapy was effective in eliciting changes in central somatosensory processing. This hypothesis may have implications for future neuromodulatory treatment of pain complaints in children and adults with cerebral palsy.

Slits Are Chemorepellents Endogenous to Hypothalamus and Steer Thalamocortical Axons into Ventral Telencephalon

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Braisted, Janet E.; Ringstedt, Thomas; O'Leary, Dennis D. M.

2009-01-01

Thalamocortical axons (TCAs) originate in dorsal thalamus, extend ventrally along the lateral thalamic surface, and as they approach hypothalamus make a lateral turn into ventral telencephalon. In vitro studies show that hypothalamus releases a chemorepellent for TCAs, and analyses of knockout mice indicate that Slit chemorepellents and their receptor Robo2 influence TCA pathfinding. We show that Slit chemorepellents are the hypothalamic chemorepellent and act through Robos to steer TCAs into...

Frequency-selectivity of a thalamocortical relay neuron during Parkinson's disease and deep brain stimulation: a computational study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cagnan, Hayriye; Cagnan, H.; Meijer, Hil Gaétan Ellart; van Gils, Stephanus A.; Krupa, M.; Heida, Tjitske; Rudolph, Michelle; Wadman, Wyse J.; Martens, Hubert C.F.

2009-01-01

In this computational study, we investigated (i) the functional importance of correlated basal ganglia (BG) activity associated with Parkinson's disease (PD) motor symptoms by analysing the effects of globus pallidus internum (GPi) bursting frequency and synchrony on a thalamocortical (TC) relay

Thalamo-cortical activation and connectivity during response preparation in adults with persistent and remitted ADHD.

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Clerkin, Suzanne M; Schulz, Kurt P; Berwid, Olga G; Fan, Jin; Newcorn, Jeffrey H; Tang, Cheuk Y; Halperin, Jeffrey M

2013-09-01

The neural correlates of stimulus-driven processes, such as response preparation, have been posited to be associated with the onset of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) while being distinct from the neural mechanisms associated with recovery. The authors tested this hypothesis in adults with remitted and persistent ADHD. Thirty-eight young adults who were diagnosed with combined-type ADHD in childhood (probands) and 32 carefully matched comparison subjects were followed longitudinally and scanned with functional MRI while performing an event-related cued reaction time task. Probands were characterized as individuals with persistent or remitted ADHD. Differences in thalamo-cortical activation and functional connectivity during response preparation between comparison subjects and probands and between individuals with persistent ADHD and those with remitted ADHD were assessed by contrasting neural activation and functional connectivity during cue or noncue events. Probands exhibited less cue-related activation than comparison subjects in the thalamus, anterior cingulate cortex, supplementary motor area, inferior parietal lobe, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex despite similar overall patterns of activation. There were no differences in activation between individuals in the remitted ADHD group and those in the persistent ADHD group in any hypothesized regions. However, cue-related functional connectivity between the right thalamus and brainstem was greater in comparison subjects relative to probands, and cue-related connectivity was greater between the right thalamus and prefrontal regions in individuals with remitted ADHD relative to those with persistent ADHD. Decreased thalamo-cortical activation during response preparation was present in adults diagnosed with ADHD in childhood regardless of symptom remission in adulthood, and may be partly driven by less functional coordination between the brainstem and thalamus. Greater functional integration of the

Coupling of Thalamocortical Sleep Oscillations Are Important for Memory Consolidation in Humans.

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Mohammad Niknazar

Full Text Available Sleep, specifically non-rapid eye movement (NREM sleep, is thought to play a critical role in the consolidation of recent memories. Two main oscillatory activities observed during NREM, cortical slow oscillations (SO, 0.5-1.0 Hz and thalamic spindles (12-15 Hz, have been shown to independently correlate with memory improvement. Yet, it is not known how these thalamocortical events interact, or the significance of this interaction, during the consolidation process. Here, we found that systemic administration of the GABAergic drug (zolpidem increased both the phase-amplitude coupling between SO and spindles, and verbal memory improvement in humans. These results suggest that thalamic spindles that occur during transitions to the cortical SO Up state are optimal for memory consolidation. Our study predicts that the timely interactions between cortical and thalamic events during consolidation, contribute to memory improvement and is mediated by the level of inhibitory neurotransmission.

Brownian Optogenetic-Noise-Photostimulation on the Brain Amplifies Somatosensory-Evoked Field Potentials

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Nayeli Huidobro

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Stochastic resonance (SR is an inherent and counter-intuitive mechanism of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR facilitation in biological systems associated with the application of an intermediate level of noise. As a first step to investigate in detail this phenomenon in the somatosensory system, here we examined whether the direct application of noisy light on pyramidal neurons from the mouse-barrel cortex expressing a light-gated channel channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2 can produce facilitation in somatosensory evoked field potentials. Using anesthetized Thy1-ChR2-YFP transgenic mice, and a new neural technology, that we called Brownian optogenetic-noise-photostimulation (BONP, we provide evidence for how BONP directly applied on the barrel cortex modulates the SNR in the amplitude of whisker-evoked field potentials (whisker-EFP. In all transgenic mice, we found that the SNR in the amplitude of whisker-EFP (at 30% of the maximal whisker-EFP exhibited an inverted U-like shape as a function of the BONP level. As a control, we also applied the same experimental paradigm, but in wild-type mice, as expected, we did not find any facilitation effects. Our results show that the application of an intermediate intensity of BONP on the barrel cortex of ChR2 transgenic mice amplifies the SNR of somatosensory whisker-EFPs. This result may be relevant to explain the improvements found in sensory detection in humans produced by the application of transcranial-random-noise-stimulation (tRNS on the scalp.

Basal ganglia modulation of thalamocortical relay in Parkinson's disease and dystonia.

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Guo, Yixin; Park, Choongseok; Worth, Robert M; Rubchinsky, Leonid L

2013-01-01

Basal ganglia dysfunction has being implied in both Parkinson's disease and dystonia. While these disorders probably involve different cellular and circuit pathologies within and beyond basal ganglia, there may be some shared neurophysiological pathways. For example, pallidotomy and pallidal Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) are used in symptomatic treatment of both disorders. Both conditions are marked by alterations of rhythmicity of neural activity throughout basal ganglia-thalamocortical circuits. Increased synchronized oscillatory activity in beta band is characteristic of Parkinson's disease, while different frequency bands, theta and alpha, are involved in dystonia. We compare the effect of the activity of GPi, the output nuclei of the basal ganglia, on information processing in the downstream neural circuits of thalamus in Parkinson's disease and dystonia. We use a data-driven computational approach, a computational model of the thalamocortical (TC) cell modulated by experimentally recorded data, to study the differences and similarities of thalamic dynamics in dystonia and Parkinson's disease. Our analysis shows no substantial differences in TC relay between the two conditions. Our results suggest that, similar to Parkinson's disease, a disruption of thalamic processing could also be involved in dystonia. Moreover, the degree to which TC relay fidelity is impaired is approximately the same in both conditions. While Parkinson's disease and dystonia may have different pathologies and differ in the oscillatory content of neural discharge, our results suggest that the effect of patterning of pallidal discharge is similar in both conditions. Furthermore, these results suggest that the mechanisms of GPi DBS in dystonia may involve improvement of TC relay fidelity.

A cognitive neuroprosthetic that uses cortical stimulation for somatosensory feedback

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Klaes, Christian; Shi, Ying; Kellis, Spencer; Minxha, Juri; Revechkis, Boris; Andersen, Richard A.

2014-10-01

Objective. Present day cortical brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) have made impressive advances using decoded brain signals to control extracorporeal devices. Although BMIs are used in a closed-loop fashion, sensory feedback typically is visual only. However medical case studies have shown that the loss of somesthesis in a limb greatly reduces the agility of the limb even when visual feedback is available. Approach. To overcome this limitation, this study tested a closed-loop BMI that utilizes intracortical microstimulation to provide ‘tactile’ sensation to a non-human primate. Main result. Using stimulation electrodes in Brodmann area 1 of somatosensory cortex (BA1) and recording electrodes in the anterior intraparietal area, the parietal reach region and dorsal area 5 (area 5d), it was found that this form of feedback can be used in BMI tasks. Significance. Providing somatosensory feedback has the poyential to greatly improve the performance of cognitive neuroprostheses especially for fine control and object manipulation. Adding stimulation to a BMI system could therefore improve the quality of life for severely paralyzed patients.

The Influence of Eye Closure on Somatosensory Discrimination: A Trade-off Between Simple Perception and Discrimination.

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Götz, Theresa; Hanke, David; Huonker, Ralph; Weiss, Thomas; Klingner, Carsten; Brodoehl, Stefan; Baumbach, Philipp; Witte, Otto W

2017-06-01

We often close our eyes to improve perception. Recent results have shown a decrease of perception thresholds accompanied by an increase in somatosensory activity after eye closure. However, does somatosensory spatial discrimination also benefit from eye closure? We previously showed that spatial discrimination is accompanied by a reduction of somatosensory activity. Using magnetoencephalography, we analyzed the magnitude of primary somatosensory (somatosensory P50m) and primary auditory activity (auditory P50m) during a one-back discrimination task in 21 healthy volunteers. In complete darkness, participants were requested to pay attention to either the somatosensory or auditory stimulation and asked to open or close their eyes every 6.5 min. Somatosensory P50m was reduced during a task requiring the distinguishing of stimulus location changes at the distal phalanges of different fingers. The somatosensory P50m was further reduced and detection performance was higher during eyes open. A similar reduction was found for the auditory P50m during a task requiring the distinguishing of changing tones. The function of eye closure is more than controlling visual input. It might be advantageous for perception because it is an effective way to reduce interference from other modalities, but disadvantageous for spatial discrimination because it requires at least one top-down processing stage. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Visuotactile motion congruence enhances gamma-band activity in visual and somatosensory cortices.

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Krebber, Martin; Harwood, James; Spitzer, Bernhard; Keil, Julian; Senkowski, Daniel

2015-08-15

When touching and viewing a moving surface our visual and somatosensory systems receive congruent spatiotemporal input. Behavioral studies have shown that motion congruence facilitates interplay between visual and tactile stimuli, but the neural mechanisms underlying this interplay are not well understood. Neural oscillations play a role in motion processing and multisensory integration. They may also be crucial for visuotactile motion processing. In this electroencephalography study, we applied linear beamforming to examine the impact of visuotactile motion congruence on beta and gamma band activity (GBA) in visual and somatosensory cortices. Visual and tactile inputs comprised of gratings that moved either in the same or different directions. Participants performed a target detection task that was unrelated to motion congruence. While there were no effects in the beta band (13-21Hz), the power of GBA (50-80Hz) in visual and somatosensory cortices was larger for congruent compared with incongruent motion stimuli. This suggests enhanced bottom-up multisensory processing when visual and tactile gratings moved in the same direction. Supporting its behavioral relevance, GBA was correlated with shorter reaction times in the target detection task. We conclude that motion congruence plays an important role for the integrative processing of visuotactile stimuli in sensory cortices, as reflected by oscillatory responses in the gamma band. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Combined Effects of Feedforward Inhibition and Excitation in Thalamocortical Circuit on the Transitions of Epileptic Seizures

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Fan, Denggui; Duan, Lixia; Wang, Qian; Luan, Guoming

2017-01-01

The mechanisms underlying electrophysiologically observed two-way transitions between absence and tonic-clonic epileptic seizures in cerebral cortex remain unknown. The interplay within thalamocortical network is believed to give rise to these epileptic multiple modes of activity and transitions between them. In particular, it is thought that in some areas of cortex there exists feedforward inhibition from specific relay nucleus of thalamus (TC) to inhibitory neuronal population (IN) which has even more stronger functions on cortical activities than the known feedforward excitation from TC to excitatory neuronal population (EX). Inspired by this, we proposed a modified computational model by introducing feedforward inhibitory connectivity within thalamocortical circuit, to systematically investigate the combined effects of feedforward inhibition and excitation on transitions of epileptic seizures. We first found that the feedforward excitation can induce the transition from tonic oscillation to spike and wave discharges (SWD) in cortex, i.e., the epileptic tonic-absence seizures, with the fixed weak feedforward inhibition. Thereinto, the phase of absence seizures corresponding to strong feedforward excitation can be further transformed into the clonic oscillations with the increasing of feedforward inhibition, representing the epileptic absence-clonic seizures. We also observed the other fascinating dynamical states, such as periodic 2/3/4-spike and wave discharges, reversed SWD and clonic oscillations, as well as saturated firings. More importantly, we can identify the stable parameter regions representing the tonic-clonic oscillations and SWD discharges of epileptic seizures on the 2-D plane composed of feedforward inhibition and excitation, where the physiologically plausible transition pathways between tonic-clonic and absence seizures can be figured out. These results indicate the functional role of feedforward pathways in controlling epileptic seizures and

Combined Effects of Feedforward Inhibition and Excitation in Thalamocortical Circuit on the Transitions of Epileptic Seizures

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Denggui Fan

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The mechanisms underlying electrophysiologically observed two-way transitions between absence and tonic-clonic epileptic seizures in cerebral cortex remain unknown. The interplay within thalamocortical network is believed to give rise to these epileptic multiple modes of activity and transitions between them. In particular, it is thought that in some areas of cortex there exists feedforward inhibition from specific relay nucleus of thalamus (TC to inhibitory neuronal population (IN which has even more stronger functions on cortical activities than the known feedforward excitation from TC to excitatory neuronal population (EX. Inspired by this, we proposed a modified computational model by introducing feedforward inhibitory connectivity within thalamocortical circuit, to systematically investigate the combined effects of feedforward inhibition and excitation on transitions of epileptic seizures. We first found that the feedforward excitation can induce the transition from tonic oscillation to spike and wave discharges (SWD in cortex, i.e., the epileptic tonic-absence seizures, with the fixed weak feedforward inhibition. Thereinto, the phase of absence seizures corresponding to strong feedforward excitation can be further transformed into the clonic oscillations with the increasing of feedforward inhibition, representing the epileptic absence-clonic seizures. We also observed the other fascinating dynamical states, such as periodic 2/3/4-spike and wave discharges, reversed SWD and clonic oscillations, as well as saturated firings. More importantly, we can identify the stable parameter regions representing the tonic-clonic oscillations and SWD discharges of epileptic seizures on the 2-D plane composed of feedforward inhibition and excitation, where the physiologically plausible transition pathways between tonic-clonic and absence seizures can be figured out. These results indicate the functional role of feedforward pathways in controlling epileptic

Beta oscillations define discrete perceptual cycles in the somatosensory domain.

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Baumgarten, Thomas J; Schnitzler, Alfons; Lange, Joachim

2015-09-29

Whether seeing a movie, listening to a song, or feeling a breeze on the skin, we coherently experience these stimuli as continuous, seamless percepts. However, there are rare perceptual phenomena that argue against continuous perception but, instead, suggest discrete processing of sensory input. Empirical evidence supporting such a discrete mechanism, however, remains scarce and comes entirely from the visual domain. Here, we demonstrate compelling evidence for discrete perceptual sampling in the somatosensory domain. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG) and a tactile temporal discrimination task in humans, we find that oscillatory alpha- and low beta-band (8-20 Hz) cycles in primary somatosensory cortex represent neurophysiological correlates of discrete perceptual cycles. Our results agree with several theoretical concepts of discrete perceptual sampling and empirical evidence of perceptual cycles in the visual domain. Critically, these results show that discrete perceptual cycles are not domain-specific, and thus restricted to the visual domain, but extend to the somatosensory domain.

Impaired somatosensory discrimination of shape in Parkinson's disease : Association with caudate nucleus dopaminergic function

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Weder, BJ; Leenders, KL; Vontobel, P; Nienhusmeier, M; Keel, A; Zaunbauer, W; Vonesch, T; Ludin, HP

1999-01-01

Tactile discrimination of macrogeometric objects in a two-alternative forced-choice procedure represents a demanding task involving somatosensory pathways and higher cognitive processing. The objects for somatosensory discrimination, i.e., rectangular parallelepipeds differing only in oblongness,

Reduced somatosensory impairment by piezosurgery during orthognathic surgery of the mandible.

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Brockmeyer, Phillipp; Hahn, Wolfram; Fenge, Stefan; Moser, Norman; Schliephake, Henning; Gruber, Rudolf Matthias

2015-09-01

This clinical trial aimed to test the hypothesis that piezosurgery causes reduced nerval irritations and, thus, reduced somatosensory impairment when used in orthognathic surgery of the mandible. To this end, 37 consecutive patients with Angle Class II and III malocclusion were treated using bilateral sagittal split osteotomies (BSSO) of the mandible. In a split mouth design, randomized one side of the mandible was operated using a conventional saw, while a piezosurgery device was used on the contralateral side. In order to test the individual qualities of somatosensory function, quantitative sensory testings (QSTs) were performed 1 month, 6 months and 1 year after surgery. A comparison of the data using a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed a significant reduction in postoperative impairment in warm detection threshold (WDT) (P = 0.046), a decreased dynamic mechanical allodynia (ALL) (P = 0.002) and a decreased vibration detection threshold (VDT) (P = 0.030) on the piezosurgery side of the mandible as opposed to the conventionally operated control side. In the remaining QSTs, minor deviations from the preoperative baseline conditions and a more rapid regression could be observed. Piezosurgery caused reduced somatosensory impairment and a faster recovery of somatosensory functions in the present investigation.

Mean-field modeling of the basal ganglia-thalamocortical system. II Dynamics of parkinsonian oscillations.

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van Albada, S J; Gray, R T; Drysdale, P M; Robinson, P A

2009-04-21

Neuronal correlates of Parkinson's disease (PD) include a shift to lower frequencies in the electroencephalogram (EEG) and enhanced synchronized oscillations at 3-7 and 7-30 Hz in the basal ganglia, thalamus, and cortex. This study describes the dynamics of a recent physiologically based mean-field model of the basal ganglia-thalamocortical system, and shows how it accounts for many key electrophysiological correlates of PD. Its detailed functional connectivity comprises partially segregated direct and indirect pathways through two populations of striatal neurons, a hyperdirect pathway involving a corticosubthalamic projection, thalamostriatal feedback, and local inhibition in striatum and external pallidum (GPe). In a companion paper, realistic steady-state firing rates were obtained for the healthy state, and after dopamine loss modeled by weaker direct and stronger indirect pathways, reduced intrapallidal inhibition, lower firing thresholds of the GPe and subthalamic nucleus (STN), a stronger projection from striatum to GPe, and weaker cortical interactions. Here it is shown that oscillations around 5 and 20 Hz can arise with a strong indirect pathway, which also causes increased synchronization throughout the basal ganglia. Furthermore, increased theta power with progressive nigrostriatal degeneration is correlated with reduced alpha power and peak frequency, in agreement with empirical results. Unlike the hyperdirect pathway, the indirect pathway sustains oscillations with phase relationships that coincide with those found experimentally. Alterations in the responses of basal ganglia to transient stimuli accord with experimental observations. Reduced cortical gains due to both nigrostriatal and mesocortical dopamine loss lead to slower changes in cortical activity and may be related to bradykinesia. Finally, increased EEG power found in some studies may be partly explained by a lower effective GPe firing threshold, reduced GPe-GPe inhibition, and/or weaker

MOBIUS-STRIP-LIKE COLUMNAR FUNCTIONAL CONNECTIONS ARE REVEALED IN SOMATO-SENSORY RECEPTIVE FIELD CENTROIDS.

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James Joseph Wright

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Receptive fields of neurons in the forelimb region of areas 3b and 1 of primary somatosensory cortex, in cats and monkeys, were mapped using extracellular recordings obtained sequentially from nearly radial penetrations. Locations of the field centroids indicated the presence of a functional system, in which cortical homotypic representations of the limb surfaces are entwined in three-dimensional Mobius-strip-like patterns of synaptic connections. Boundaries of somatosensory receptive field in nested groups irregularly overlie the centroid order, and are interpreted as arising from the superposition of learned connections upon the embryonic order. Since the theory of embryonic synaptic self-organisation used to model these results was devised and earlier used to explain findings in primary visual cortex, the present findings suggest the theory may be of general application throughout cortex, and may reveal a modular functional synaptic system, which, only in some parts of the cortex, and in some species, is manifest as anatomical ordering into columns.

Somatosensory mismatch response in young and elderly adults

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Juho M. Strömmer

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Aging is associated with cognitive decline and alterations in early perceptual processes. Studies in the auditory and visual modalities have shown that the mismatch negativity (or the mismatch response, MMR, an event-related potential (ERP elicited by a deviant stimulus in a background of homogenous events, diminishes with aging and cognitive decline. However, the effects of aging on the somatosensory MMR are not known. In the current study, we recorded ERPs to electrical pulses to different fingers of the left hand in a passive oddball experiment in young (22–36 years and elderly (66–95 years adults engaged in a visual task. The MMR was found to deviants as compared to standards at two latency ranges: 180–220 ms and 250–290 ms post-stimulus onset. At 180–220 ms, within the young, the MMR was found at medial electrode sites, whereas aged did not show any amplitude difference between the stimulus types at the same latency range. At 250–290 ms, the MMR was evident with attenuated amplitude and narrowed scalp distribution among aged (Fz compared to young (fronto-centrally and lateral parietal sites. Hence, the results reveal that the somatosensory change detection mechanism is altered in aging. The somatosensory MMR can be used as a reliable measure of age-related changes in sensory-cognitive functions.

Mechanosensor Channels in Mammalian Somatosensory Neurons

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Patrick Delmas

2007-09-01

Full Text Available Mechanoreceptive sensory neurons innervating the skin, skeletal muscles andviscera signal both innocuous and noxious information necessary for proprioception, touchand pain. These neurons are responsible for the transduction of mechanical stimuli intoaction potentials that propagate to the central nervous system. The ability of these cells todetect mechanical stimuli impinging on them relies on the presence of mechanosensitivechannels that transduce the external mechanical forces into electrical and chemical signals.Although a great deal of information regarding the molecular and biophysical properties ofmechanosensitive channels in prokaryotes has been accumulated over the past two decades,less is known about the mechanosensitive channels necessary for proprioception and thesenses of touch and pain. This review summarizes the most pertinent data onmechanosensitive channels of mammalian somatosensory neurons, focusing on theirproperties, pharmacology and putative identity.

"Lacking warmth": Alexithymia trait is related to warm-specific thermal somatosensory processing.

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Borhani, Khatereh; Làdavas, Elisabetta; Fotopoulou, Aikaterini; Haggard, Patrick

2017-09-01

Alexithymia is a personality trait involving deficits in emotional processing. The personality construct has been extensively validated, but the underlying neural and physiological systems remain controversial. One theory suggests that low-level somatosensory mechanisms act as somatic markers of emotion, underpinning cognitive and affective impairments in alexithymia. In two separate samples (total N=100), we used an established Quantitative Sensory Testing (QST) battery to probe multiple neurophysiological submodalities of somatosensation, and investigated their associations with the widely-used Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). Experiment one found reduced sensitivity to warmth in people with higher alexithymia scores, compared to individuals with lower scores, without deficits in other somatosensory submodalities. Experiment two replicated this result in a new group of participants using a full-sample correlation between threshold for warm detection and TAS-20 scores. We discuss the relations between low-level thermoceptive function and cognitive processing of emotion. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Thalamocortical functional connectivity in Lennox-Gastaut syndrome is abnormally enhanced in executive-control and default-mode networks.

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Warren, Aaron E L; Abbott, David F; Jackson, Graeme D; Archer, John S

2017-12-01

To identify abnormal thalamocortical circuits in the severe epilepsy of Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS) that may explain the shared electroclinical phenotype and provide potential treatment targets. Twenty patients with a diagnosis of LGS (mean age = 28.5 years) and 26 healthy controls (mean age = 27.6 years) were compared using task-free functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The thalamus was parcellated according to functional connectivity with 10 cortical networks derived using group-level independent component analysis. For each cortical network, we assessed between-group differences in thalamic functional connectivity strength using nonparametric permutation-based tests. Anatomical locations were identified by quantifying spatial overlap with a histologically informed thalamic MRI atlas. In both groups, posterior thalamic regions showed functional connectivity with visual, auditory, and sensorimotor networks, whereas anterior, medial, and dorsal thalamic regions were connected with networks of distributed association cortex (including the default-mode, anterior-salience, and executive-control networks). Four cortical networks (left and right executive-control network; ventral and dorsal default-mode network) showed significantly enhanced thalamic functional connectivity strength in patients relative to controls. Abnormal connectivity was maximal in mediodorsal and ventrolateral thalamic nuclei. Specific thalamocortical circuits are affected in LGS. Functional connectivity is abnormally enhanced between the mediodorsal and ventrolateral thalamus and the default-mode and executive-control networks, thalamocortical circuits that normally support diverse cognitive processes. In contrast, thalamic regions connecting with primary and sensory cortical networks appear to be less affected. Our previous neuroimaging studies show that epileptic activity in LGS is expressed via the default-mode and executive-control networks. Results of the present study suggest that

Effect of somatosensory and neurofeedback training on balance in older healthy adults: a preliminary investigation.

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Azarpaikan, Atefeh; Taheri Torbati, Hamidreza

2017-10-23

The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of balance training with somatosensory and neurofeedback training on dynamic and static balance in healthy, elderly adults. The sample group consisted of 45 healthy adults randomly assigned to one of the three test groups: somatosensory, neurofeedback, and a control. Individualization of the balance program started with pre-tests for static and dynamic balances. Each group had 15- and 30-min training sessions. All groups were tested for static (postural stability) and dynamic balances (Berg Balance Scale) in acquisition and transfer tests (fall risk of stability and timed up and go). Improvements in static and dynamic balances were assessed by somatosensory and neurofeedback groups and then compared with the control group. Results indicated significant improvements in static and dynamic balances in both test groups in the acquisition test. Results revealed a significant improvement in the transfer test in the neurofeedback and somatosensory groups, in static and dynamic conditions, respectively. The findings suggest that these methods of balance training had a significant influence on balance. Both the methods are appropriate to prevent falling in adults. Neurofeedback training helped the participants to learn static balance, while somatosensory training was effective on dynamic balance learning. Further research is needed to assess the effects of longer and discontinuous stimulation with somatosensory and neurofeedback training on balance in elderly adults.

The effect of water immersion on short-latency somatosensory evoked potentials in human

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Sato Daisuke

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Water immersion therapy is used to treat a variety of cardiovascular, respiratory, and orthopedic conditions. It can also benefit some neurological patients, although little is known about the effects of water immersion on neural activity, including somatosensory processing. To this end, we examined the effect of water immersion on short-latency somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs elicited by median nerve stimuli. Short-latency SEP recordings were obtained for ten healthy male volunteers at rest in or out of water at 30°C. Recordings were obtained from nine scalp electrodes according to the 10-20 system. The right median nerve at the wrist was electrically stimulated with the stimulus duration of 0.2 ms at 3 Hz. The intensity of the stimulus was fixed at approximately three times the sensory threshold. Results Water immersion significantly reduced the amplitudes of the short-latency SEP components P25 and P45 measured from electrodes over the parietal region and the P45 measured by central region. Conclusions Water immersion reduced short-latency SEP components known to originate in several cortical areas. Attenuation of short-latency SEPs suggests that water immersion influences the cortical processing of somatosensory inputs. Modulation of cortical processing may contribute to the beneficial effects of aquatic therapy. Trial Registration UMIN-CTR (UMIN000006492

Pain from Dental Implant Placement, Inflammatory Pulpitis Pain, and Neuropathic Pain Present Different Somatosensory Profiles.

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Porporatti, André Luís; Bonjardim, Leonardo Rigoldi; Stuginski-Barbosa, Juliana; Bonfante, Estevam Augusto; Costa, Yuri Martins; Rodrigues Conti, Paulo César

2017-01-01

To address the two following questions: (1) What kind of somatosensory abnormalities may be characterized in patients receiving dental implants (IMP), in ongoing inflammatory dental pulpitis (IP) patients, and in neuropathic pain (atypical odontalgia [AO]) patients? and (2) What sort of sensory and neural changes may result from dental implant placement surgery and pulpectomy? A total of 60 subjects were divided into three groups: the IMP (n = 20), IP (n = 20), and AO groups (n = 20). Quantitative sensory testing (QST) was performed preoperatively (baseline) for all three groups and postoperatively at 1 month and 3 months after dental implant placement or pulpectomy (in the IMP group and IP group, respectively). Statistical analyses were completed with one-way and two-way analysis of variance and z score transformations (α = 5%). The main findings of this study indicated that: (1) Elevations in mechanical detection threshold (MDT) and in current perception threshold (CPT) related to C-fiber activation, indicating a loss of function, were found at baseline in IP patients; (2) Somatosensory abnormalities such as allodynia, reduced MDT and mechanical pain threshold (MPT), and impaired pain modulation were found in AO patients; (3) No somatosensory alterations after implant placement were found in the IMP group; and (4) Somatosensory alterations in the form of reduction in the CPT related to C-fiber activation were reported 3 months after pulpectomy in the IP group. This study showed that somatosensory abnormalities were evident in AO and IP patients, and somatosensory alterations were seen in IP patients even 3 months after pulpectomy. However, no somatosensory alterations were seen after implant placement.

Imaging of thalamocortical dysrhythmia in neuropsychiatry

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Joshua J Schulman

2011-07-01

Full Text Available Abnormal brain activity dynamics, in the sense of a thalamocortical dysrhythmia (TCD, has been proposed as the underlying mechanism for a subset of disorders that bridge the traditional delineations of neurology and neuropsychiatry. In order to test this proposal from a psychiatric perspective, a study using magnetoencephalography (MEG was implemented in subjects with schizophrenic spectrum disorder (SSD (n=14, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD (n = 10, or depressive disorder (DD (n=5 and in control individuals (n = 18. Detailed CNS electrophysiological analysis of these patients, using MEG, revealed the presence of abnormal theta range spectral power with typical TCD characteristics, in all cases. The use of independent component analysis (ICA and minimum-norm-based methods localized such TCD to ventromedial prefrontal and temporal cortices. The observed mode of oscillation was spectrally equivalent but spatially distinct from that of TCD observed in other related disorders, including Parkinson’s disease, central tinnitus, neuropathic pain, and autism. The present results indicate that the functional basis for much of these pathologies may relate most fundamentally to the category of calcium channelopathies and serve as a model for the cellular substrate for low frequency oscillations present in these psychiatric disorders, providing a basis for therapeutic strategies.

Electrophysiological Evidence for a Sensory Recruitment Model of Somatosensory Working Memory.

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Katus, Tobias; Grubert, Anna; Eimer, Martin

2015-12-01

Sensory recruitment models of working memory assume that information storage is mediated by the same cortical areas that are responsible for the perceptual processing of sensory signals. To test this assumption, we measured somatosensory event-related brain potentials (ERPs) during a tactile delayed match-to-sample task. Participants memorized a tactile sample set at one task-relevant hand to compare it with a subsequent test set on the same hand. During the retention period, a sustained negativity (tactile contralateral delay activity, tCDA) was elicited over primary somatosensory cortex contralateral to the relevant hand. The amplitude of this component increased with memory load and was sensitive to individual limitations in memory capacity, suggesting that the tCDA reflects the maintenance of tactile information in somatosensory working memory. The tCDA was preceded by a transient negativity (N2cc component) with a similar contralateral scalp distribution, which is likely to reflect selection of task-relevant tactile stimuli at the encoding stage. The temporal sequence of N2cc and tCDA components mirrors previous observations from ERP studies of working memory in vision. The finding that the sustained somatosensory delay period activity varies as a function of memory load supports a sensory recruitment model for spatial working memory in touch. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Relative contributions of intracortical and thalamo-cortical processes in the generation of alpha rhythms, revealed by partial coherence analysis

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Lopes da Silva, F.H.; Vos, J.E.; Mooibroek, J.; Rotterdam, A. van

1980-01-01

The thalamo-cortical relationships of alpha rhythms have been analysed in dogs using partial coherence function analysis. The objective was to clarify how far the large intracortical coherence commonly recorded between different cortical sites could depend on a common thalamic site. It was found

Asymmetric multisensory interactions of visual and somatosensory responses in a region of the rat parietal cortex.

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Michael T Lippert

Full Text Available Perception greatly benefits from integrating multiple sensory cues into a unified percept. To study the neural mechanisms of sensory integration, model systems are required that allow the simultaneous assessment of activity and the use of techniques to affect individual neural processes in behaving animals. While rodents qualify for these requirements, little is known about multisensory integration and areas involved for this purpose in the rodent. Using optical imaging combined with laminar electrophysiological recordings, the rat parietal cortex was identified as an area where visual and somatosensory inputs converge and interact. Our results reveal similar response patterns to visual and somatosensory stimuli at the level of current source density (CSD responses and multi-unit responses within a strip in parietal cortex. Surprisingly, a selective asymmetry was observed in multisensory interactions: when the somatosensory response preceded the visual response, supra-linear summation of CSD was observed, but the reverse stimulus order resulted in sub-linear effects in the CSD. This asymmetry was not present in multi-unit activity however, which showed consistently sub-linear interactions. These interactions were restricted to a specific temporal window, and pharmacological tests revealed significant local intra-cortical contributions to this phenomenon. Our results highlight the rodent parietal cortex as a system to model the neural underpinnings of multisensory processing in behaving animals and at the cellular level.

Atypical visual and somatosensory adaptation in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders

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Andrade, G N; Butler, J S; Peters, G A; Molholm, S; Foxe, J J

2016-01-01

Neurophysiological investigations in patients with schizophrenia consistently show early sensory processing deficits in the visual system. Importantly, comparable sensory deficits have also been established in healthy first-degree biological relatives of patients with schizophrenia and in first-episode drug-naive patients. The clear implication is that these measures are endophenotypic, related to the underlying genetic liability for schizophrenia. However, there is significant overlap between patient response distributions and those of healthy individuals without affected first-degree relatives. Here we sought to develop more sensitive measures of sensory dysfunction in this population, with an eye to establishing endophenotypic markers with better predictive capabilities. We used a sensory adaptation paradigm in which electrophysiological responses to basic visual and somatosensory stimuli presented at different rates (ranging from 250 to 2550 ms interstimulus intervals, in blocked presentations) were compared. Our main hypothesis was that adaptation would be substantially diminished in schizophrenia, and that this would be especially prevalent in the visual system. High-density event-related potential recordings showed amplitude reductions in sensory adaptation in patients with schizophrenia (N=15 Experiment 1, N=12 Experiment 2) compared with age-matched healthy controls (N=15 Experiment 1, N=12 Experiment 2), and this was seen for both sensory modalities. At the individual participant level, reduced adaptation was more robust for visual compared with somatosensory stimulation. These results point to significant impairments in short-term sensory plasticity across sensory modalities in schizophrenia. These simple-to-execute measures may prove valuable as candidate endophenotypes and will bear follow-up in future work. PMID:27163205

Analysis of the role of the low threshold currents IT and Ih in intrinsic delta oscillations of thalamocortical neurons

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Yimy eAmarillo

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Thalamocortical neurons are involved in the generation and maintenance of brain rhythms associated with global functional states. The repetitive burst firing of TC neurons at delta frequencies (1-4 Hz has been linked to the oscillations recorded during deep sleep and during episodes of absence seizures. To get insight into the biophysical properties that are the basis for intrinsic delta oscillations in these neurons, we performed a bifurcation analysis of a minimal conductance-based thalamocortical neuron model including only the IT channel and the sodium and potassium leak channels. This analysis unveils the dynamics of repetitive burst firing of TC neurons, and describes how the interplay between the amplifying variable mT and the recovering variable hT of the calcium channel IT is sufficient to generate low threshold oscillations in the delta band. We also explored the role of the hyperpolarization activated cationic current Ih in this reduced model and determine that, albeit not required, Ih amplifies and stabilizes the oscillation.

Somatosensory evoked potentials in children with autism | Azouz ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

SSEPs) changesamong children with autism, and their relation to somatosensory manifestations and severity of autism. Subjects: Thirty children with autism aged 2–12 years were included in the study, all of them fulfilling criteria of the Diagnostic ...

Reduced modulation of thalamocortical connectivity during exposure to sensory stimuli in ASD.

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Green, Shulamite A; Hernandez, Leanna; Bookheimer, Susan Y; Dapretto, Mirella

2017-05-01

Recent evidence for abnormal thalamic connectivity in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and sensory processing disorders suggests the thalamus may play a role in sensory over-responsivity (SOR), an extreme negative response to sensory stimuli, which is common in ASD. However, there is yet little understanding of changes in thalamic connectivity during exposure to aversive sensory inputs in individuals with ASD. In particular, the pulvinar nucleus of the thalamus is implicated in atypical sensory processing given its role in selective attention, regulation, and sensory integration. This study aimed to examine the role of pulvinar connectivity in ASD during mildly aversive sensory input. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to examine connectivity with the pulvinar during exposure to mildly aversive auditory and tactile stimuli in 38 youth (age 9-17; 19 ASD, 19 IQ-matched typically developing (TD)). Parents rated children's SOR severity on two standard scales. Compared to TD, ASD participants displayed aberrant modulation of connectivity between pulvinar and cortex (including sensory-motor and prefrontal regions) during sensory stimulation. In ASD participants, pulvinar-amygdala connectivity was correlated with severity of SOR symptoms. Deficits in modulation of thalamocortical connectivity in youth with ASD may reflect reduced thalamo-cortical inhibition in response to sensory stimulation, which could lead to difficulty filtering out and/or integrating sensory information. An increase in amygdala connectivity with the pulvinar might be partially responsible for deficits in selective attention as the amygdala signals the brain to attend to distracting sensory stimuli. Autism Res 2017, 10: 801-809. © 2016 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Skill-Specific Changes in Somatosensory Nogo Potentials in Baseball Players.

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Koya Yamashiro

Full Text Available Athletic training is known to induce neuroplastic alterations in specific somatosensory circuits, which are reflected by changes in somatosensory evoked potentials and event-related potentials. The aim of this study was to clarify whether specific athletic training also affects somatosensory Nogo potentials related to the inhibition of movements. The Nogo potentials were recorded at nine cortical electrode positions (Fz, Cz, Pz, F3, F4, C3, C4, P3 and P4 in 12 baseball players (baseball group and in 12 athletes in sports, such as track and field events and swimming, that do not require response inhibition, such as batting for training or performance (sports group. The Nogo potentials and Go/Nogo reaction times (Go/Nogo RTs were measured under a somatosensory Go/Nogo paradigm in which subjects were instructed to rapidly push a button in response to stimulus presentation. The Nogo potentials were obtained by subtracting the Go trial from the Nogo trial. The peak Nogo-N2 was significantly shorter in the baseball group than that in the sports group. In addition, the amplitude of Nogo-N2 in the frontal area was significantly larger in the baseball group than that in the sports group. There was a significant positive correlation between the latency of Nogo-N2 and Go/Nogo RT. Moreover, there were significant correlations between the Go/Nogo RT and both the amplitude of Nogo-N2 and Nogo-P3 (i.e., amplitude of the Nogo-potentials increases with shorter RT. Specific athletic training regimens may induce neuroplastic alterations in sensorimotor inhibitory processes.

Corticofugal projections induce long-lasting effects on somatosensory responses in the trigeminal complex of the rat

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Angel eNunez

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The sensory information flow at subcortical relay stations is controlled by the action of topographic connections from the neocortex. To determinate the functional properties of the somatosensory corticofugal projections to the principal (Pr5 and caudal spinal (Sp5C trigeminal nuclei, we performed unitary recordings in anesthetized rats. To examine the effect of these cortical projections we used tactile stimulation of the whisker and electrical stimulation of somatosensory cortices. Corticofugal anatomical projections to Pr5 and Sp5C nuclei were detected by using retrograde fluorescent tracers. Neurons projecting exclusively to Pr5 were located in the cingulate cortex while neurons projecting to both Sp5C and Pr5 nuclei were located in the somatosensory and insular cortices (>75% of neurons. Physiological results indicated that primary somatosensory cortex produced a short-lasting facilitating or inhibiting effects (< 5 minutes of tactile responses in Pr5 nucleus through activation of NMDA glutamatergic or GABAA receptors since effects were blocked by iontophoretically application of APV and bicuculline, respectively. In contrast, stimulation of secondary somatosensory cortex did not affect most of the Pr5 neurons; however both cortices inhibited the nociceptive responses in the Sp5C nucleus through activation of glycinergic or GABAA receptors because effects were blocked by iontophoretically application of strychnine and bicuculline, respectively. These and anatomical results demonstrated that the somatosensory cortices projects to Pr5 nucleus to modulate tactile responses by excitatory and inhibitory actions, while projections to the Sp5C nucleus control nociceptive sensory transmission by only inhibitory effects. Thus, somatosensory cortices may modulate innocuous and noxious inputs simultaneously, contributing to the perception of specifically tactile or painful sensations.

Airway somatosensory deficits and dysphagia in Parkinson's disease.

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Hammer, Michael J; Murphy, Caitlin A; Abrams, Trisha M

2013-01-01

Individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) often experience substantial impairment of swallow control, and are typically unaware of the presence or severity of their impairments suggesting that these individuals may also experience airway sensory deficits. However, the degree to which impaired swallow function in PD may relate to airway sensory deficits has yet to be formally tested. The purpose of this study was to examine whether airway sensory function is associated with swallow impairment in PD. Eighteen PD participants and 18 healthy controls participated in this study and underwent endoscopic assessment of airway somatosensory function, endoscopic assessment of swallow function, and clinical ratings of swallow and disease severity. PD participants exhibited abnormal airway somatosensory function and greater swallow impairment compared with healthy controls. Swallow and sensory deficits in PD were correlated with disease severity. Moreover, PD participants reported similar self-rated swallow function as healthy controls, and swallow deficits were correlated with sensory function suggesting an association between impaired sensory function and poor self-awareness of swallow deficits in PD. These results suggest that control of swallow is influenced by airway somatosensory function, that swallow-related deficits in PD are related to abnormal somatosensation, and that swallow and airway sensory function may degrade as a function of disease severity. Therefore, the basal ganglia and related neural networks may play an important role to integrate airway sensory input for swallow-related motor control. Furthermore, the airway deficits observed in PD suggest a disintegration of swallow-related sensory and motor control.

Inhibitory rTMS applied on somatosensory cortex in Wilson's disease patients with hand dystonia.

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Lozeron, Pierre; Poujois, Aurélia; Meppiel, Elodie; Masmoudi, Sana; Magnan, Thierry Peron; Vicaut, Eric; Houdart, Emmanuel; Guichard, Jean-Pierre; Trocello, Jean-Marc; Woimant, France; Kubis, Nathalie

2017-10-01

Hand dystonia is a common complication of Wilson's disease (WD), responsible for handwriting difficulties and disability. Alteration of sensorimotor integration and overactivity of the somatosensory cortex have been demonstrated in dystonia. This study investigated the immediate after effect of an inhibitory repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) applied over the somatosensory cortex on the writing function in WD patients with hand dystonia. We performed a pilot prospective randomized double-blind sham-controlled crossover rTMS study. A 20-min 1-Hz rTMS session, stereotaxically guided, was applied over the left somatosensory cortex in 13 WD patients with right dystonic writer's cramp. After 3 days, each patient was crossed-over to the alternative treatment. Patients were clinically evaluated before and immediately after each rTMS session with the Unified Wilson's Disease rating scale (UWDRS), the Writers' Cramp Rating Scale (WCRS), a specifically designed scale for handwriting difficulties in Wilson's disease patients (FAR, flow, accuracy, and rhythmicity evaluation), and a visual analog scale (VAS) for handwriting discomfort. No significant change in UWDRS, WCRS, VAS, or FAR scores was observed in patients treated with somatosensory inhibitory rTMS compared to the sham protocol. The FAR negatively correlated with UWDRS (r = -0.6; P = 0.02), but not with the WCRS score, disease duration, MRI diffusion lesions, or with atrophy scores. In our experimental conditions, a single inhibitory rTMS session applied over somatosensory cortex did not improve dystonic writer cramp in WD patients.

Linking topography to tonotopy in the mouse auditory thalamocortical circuit

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hackett, Troy A; Rinaldi Barkat, Tania; O'Brien, Barbara M J

2011-01-01

The mouse sensory neocortex is reported to lack several hallmark features of topographic organization such as ocular dominance and orientation columns in primary visual cortex or fine-scale tonotopy in primary auditory cortex (AI). Here, we re-examined the question of auditory functional topography...... the tonotopic axis in the slice produced an orderly shift of voltage-sensitive dye (VSD) signals along the AI tonotopic axis, demonstrating topography in the mouse thalamocortical circuit that is preserved in the slice. However, compared with BF maps of neuronal spiking activity, the topographic order...... of subthreshold VSD maps was reduced in layer IV and even further degraded in layer II/III. Therefore, the precision of AI topography varies according to the source and layer of the mapping signal. Our findings further bridge the gap between in vivo and in vitro approaches for the detailed cellular study...

Influence of body position on cortical pain-related somatosensory processing: an ERP study.

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Chiara Spironelli

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Despite the consistent information available on the physiological changes induced by head down bed rest, a condition which simulates space microgravity, our knowledge on the possible perceptual-cortical alterations is still poor. The present study investigated the effects of 2-h head-down bed rest on subjective and cortical responses elicited by electrical, pain-related somatosensory stimulation. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Twenty male subjects were randomly assigned to two groups, head-down bed rest (BR or sitting control condition. Starting from individual electrical thresholds, Somatosensory Evoked Potentials were elicited by electrical stimuli administered randomly to the left wrist and divided into four conditions: control painless condition, electrical pain threshold, 30% above pain threshold, 30% below pain threshold. Subjective pain ratings collected during the EEG session showed significantly reduced pain perception in BR compared to Control group. Statistical analysis on four electrode clusters and sLORETA source analysis revealed, in sitting controls, a P1 component (40-50 ms in the right somatosensory cortex, whereas it was bilateral and differently located in BR group. Controls' N1 (80-90 ms had widespread right hemisphere activation, involving also anterior cingulate, whereas BR group showed primary somatosensory cortex activation. The P2 (190-220 ms was larger in left-central locations of Controls compared with BR group. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Head-down bed rest was associated to an overall decrease of pain sensitivity and an altered pain network also outside the primary somatosensory cortex. Results have implications not only for astronauts' health and spaceflight risks, but also for the clinical aspects of pain detection in bedridden patients at risk of fatal undetected complications.

Somatosensory impairment and its association with balance limitation in people with multiple sclerosis.

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Jamali, Akram; Sadeghi-Demneh, Ebrahim; Fereshtenajad, Niloufar; Hillier, Susan

2017-09-01

Somatosensory impairments are common in multiple sclerosis. However, little data are available to characterize the nature and frequency of these problems in people with multiple sclerosis. To investigate the frequency of somatosensory impairments and identify any association with balance limitations in people with multiple sclerosis. The design was a prospective cross-sectional study, involving 82 people with multiple sclerosis and 30 healthy controls. Tactile and proprioceptive sensory acuity were measured using the Rivermead Assessment of Somatosensory Performance. Vibration duration was assessed using a tuning fork. Duration for the Timed Up and Go Test and reaching distance of the Functional Reach Test were measured to assess balance limitations. The normative range of sensory modalities was defined using cut-off points in the healthy participants. The multivariate linear regression was used to identify the significant predictors of balance in people with multiple sclerosis. Proprioceptive impairments (66.7%) were more common than tactile (60.8%) and vibration impairments (44.9%). Somatosensory impairments were more frequent in the lower limb (78.2%) than the upper limb (64.1%). All sensory modalities were significantly associated with the Timed Up and Go and Functional Reach tests (plimitation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The interaction between felt touch and tactile consequences of observed actions: an action-based somatosensory congruency paradigm.

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Deschrijver, Eliane; Wiersema, Jan R; Brass, Marcel

2016-07-01

Action observation leads to a representation of both the motor aspect of an observed action (motor simulation) and its somatosensory consequences (action-based somatosensory simulation) in the observer's brain. In the current electroencephalography-study, we investigated the neuronal interplay of action-based somatosensory simulation and felt touch. We presented index or middle finger tapping movements of a human or a wooden hand, while simultaneously presenting 'tap-like' tactile sensations to either the corresponding or non-corresponding fingertip of the participant. We focused on an early stage of somatosensory processing [P50, N100 and N140 sensory evoked potentials (SEPs)] and on a later stage of higher-order processing (P3-complex). The results revealed an interaction effect of animacy and congruency in the early P50 SEP and an animacy effect in the N100/N140 SEPs. In the P3-complex, we found an interaction effect indicating that the influence of congruency was larger in the human than in the wooden hand. We argue that the P3-complex may reflect higher-order self-other distinction by signaling simulated action-based touch that does not match own tactile information. As such, the action-based somatosensory congruency paradigm might help understand higher-order social processes from a somatosensory point of view. © The Author (2015). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Thalamocortical Projection Neuron and Interneuron Numbers in the Visual Thalamic Nuclei of the Adult C57BL/6 Mouse.

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Evangelio, Marian; García-Amado, María; Clascá, Francisco

2018-01-01

A key parameter to constrain predictive, bottom-up circuit models of a given brain domain is the number and position of the neuronal populations involved. These include not only the neurons whose bodies reside within the domain, but also the neurons in distant regions that innervate the domain. The mouse visual cortex receives its main subcortical input from the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) and the lateral posterior (LP) complex of the thalamus. The latter consists of three different nuclei: lateral posterior lateral (LPL), lateral posterior medial rostral (LPMR), and lateral posterior medial caudal (LPMC), each exhibiting specific patterns of connections with the various visual cortical areas. Here, we have determined the number of thalamocortical projection neurons and interneurons in the LP complex and dLGN of the adult C57BL/6 male mouse. We combined Nissl staining and histochemical and immunolabeling methods for consistently delineating nuclei borders, and applied unbiased stereological cell counting methods. Thalamic interneurons were identified using GABA immunolabeling. The C57BL/6 dLGN contains ∼21,200 neurons, while LP complex contains ∼31,000 total neurons. The dLGN and LP are the only nuclei of the mouse dorsal thalamus containing substantial numbers GABA-immunoreactive interneurons. These interneurons, however, are scarcer than previously estimated; they are 5.6% of dLGN neurons and just 1.9% of the LP neurons. It can be thus inferred that the dLGN contains ∼20,000 and the LP complex ∼30,400 thalamocortical projection neurons (∼12,000 in LPL, 15,200 in LPMR, and 4,200 in LPMC). The present dataset is relevant for constraining models of mouse visual thalamocortical circuits, as well as for quantitative comparisons between genetically modified mouse strains, or across species.

D-[3H]aspartate retrograde labelling of callosal and association neurons of somatosensory areas I and II of cats

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barbaresi, P.; Fabri, M.; Conti, F.; Manzoni, T.

1987-01-01

Experiments were carried out on cats to ascertain whether corticocortical neurons of somatosensory areas I (SI) and II (SII) could be labelled by retrograde axonal transport of D-[ 3 H]aspartate (D-[ 3 H]Asp). This tritiated enantiomer of the amino acid aspartate is (1) taken up selectively by axon terminals of neurons releasing aspartate and/or glutamate as excitatory neurotransmitter, (2) retrogradely transported and accumulated in perikarya, (3) not metabolized, and (4) visualized by autoradiography. A solution of D-[ 3 H]Asp was injected in eight cats in the trunk and forelimb zones of SI (two cats) or in the forelimb zone of SII (six cats). In order to compare the labelling patterns obtained with D-[ 3 H]Asp with those resulting after injection of a nonselective neuronal tracer, horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was delivered mixed with the radioactive tracer in seven of the eight cats. Furthermore, six additional animals received HRP injections in SI (three cats; trunk and forelimb zones) or SII (three cats; forelimb zone). D-[ 3 H]Asp retrograde labelling of perikarya was absent from the ipsilateral thalamus of all cats injected with the radioactive tracer but a dense terminal plexus of anterogradely labelled corticothalamic fibers from SI and SII was observed, overlapping the distribution area of thalamocortical neurons retrogradely labelled with HRP from the same areas. D-[ 3 H]Asp-labelled neurones were present in ipsilateral SII (SII-SI association neurones) in cats injected in SI. In these animals a bundle of radioactive fibres was observed in the rostral portion of the corpus callosum entering the contralateral hemisphere. There, neurones retrogradely labelled with silver grains were present in SI (SI-SI callosal neurons)

Genetic influence demonstrated for MEG-recorded somatosensory evoked responses

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van 't Ent, D.; van Soelen, I.L.C.; Stam, K.J.; de Geus, E.J.C.; Boomsma, D.I.

2010-01-01

We tested for a genetic influence on magnetoencephalogram (MEG)-recorded somatosensory evoked fields (SEFs) in 20 monozygotic (MZ) and 14 dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs. Previous electroencephalogram (EEG) studies that demonstrated a genetic contribution to evoked responses generally focused on

COMMUNICATION Designing a somatosensory neural prosthesis: percepts evoked by different patterns of thalamic stimulation

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Heming, Ethan; Sanden, Andrew; Kiss, Zelma H. T.

2010-12-01

Although major advances have been made in the development of motor prostheses, fine motor control requires intuitive somatosensory feedback. Here we explored whether a thalamic site for a somatosensory neural prosthetic could provide natural somatic sensation to humans. Different patterns of electrical stimulation (obtained from thalamic spike trains) were applied in patients undergoing deep brain stimulation surgery. Changes in pattern produced different sensations, while preserving somatotopic representation. While most percepts were reported as 'unnatural', some stimulations produced more 'natural' sensations than others. However, the additional patterns did not elicit more 'natural' percepts than high-frequency (333 Hz) electrical stimulation. These features suggest that despite some limitations, the thalamus may be a feasible site for a somatosensory neural prosthesis and different stimulation patterns may be useful in its development.

Somatosensory discrimination deficits following pediatric cerebral malaria.

Science.gov (United States)

Dugbartey, A T; Spellacy, F J; Dugbartey, M T

1998-09-01

Pathologic studies of central nervous system damage in human falciparum malaria indicate primary localization in the cerebral white matter. We report a sensory-perceptual investigation of 20 Ghanaian children with a recent history of cerebral malaria who were age-, gender-, and education-matched with 20 healthy control subjects. Somatosensory examinations failed to show any evidence of hemianesthesia, pseudohemianesthesia, or extinction to double simultaneous tactile stimulation. While unilateral upper limb testing revealed intact unimanual tactile roughness discrimination, bimanual tactile discrimination, however, was significantly impaired in the cerebral malaria group. A strong negative correlation (r = -0.72) between coma duration and the bimanual tactile roughness discrimination test was also found. An inefficiency in the integrity of callosal fibers appear to account for our findings, although alternative subcortical mechanisms known to be involved in information transfer across the cerebral hemispheres may be compromised as well.

Physiological slowing and upregulation of inhibition in cortex are correlated with behavioral deficits in protein malnourished rats.

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Rahul Chaudhary

Full Text Available Protein malnutrition during early development has been correlated with cognitive and learning disabilities in children, but the neuronal deficits caused by long-term protein deficiency are not well understood. We exposed rats from gestation up to adulthood to a protein-deficient (PD diet, to emulate chronic protein malnutrition in humans. The offspring exhibited significantly impaired performance on the 'Gap-crossing' (GC task after reaching maturity, a behavior that has been shown to depend on normal functioning of the somatosensory cortex. The physiological state of the somatosensory cortex was examined to determine neuronal correlates of the deficits in behavior. Extracellular multi-unit recording from layer 4 (L4 neurons that receive direct thalamocortical inputs and layers 2/3 (L2/3 neurons that are dominated by intracortical connections in the whisker-barrel cortex of PD rats exhibited significantly low spontaneous activity and depressed responses to whisker stimulation. L4 neurons were more severely affected than L2/3 neurons. The response onset was significantly delayed in L4 cells. The peak response latency of L4 and L2/3 neurons was delayed significantly. In L2/3 and L4 of the barrel cortex there was a substantial increase in GAD65 (112% over controls and much smaller increase in NMDAR1 (12-20%, suggesting enhanced inhibition in the PD cortex. These results show that chronic protein deficiency negatively affects both thalamo-cortical and cortico-cortical transmission during somatosensory information processing. The findings support the interpretation that sustained protein deficiency interferes with features of cortical sensory processing that are likely to underlie the cognitive impairments reported in humans who have suffered from prolonged protein deficiency.

Mindfulness starts with the body: Somatosensory attention and top-down modulation of cortical alpha rhythms in mindfulness meditation

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Catherine E Kerr

2013-02-01

Full Text Available Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT use a common set of exercises to reduce distress in chronic pain and decrease risk of depression relapse. These standardized mindfulness (ST-Mindfulness practices predominantly require attending to breath and body sensations. Here, we offer a novel view of ST-Mindfulness’s somatic focus as a form of training for optimizing attentional modulation of 7-14 Hz alpha rhythms that play a key role in filtering inputs to primary sensory neocortex and organizing the flow of sensory information. In support of the framework, we describe our previous finding (Kerr et al, 2011 that ST-Mindfulness enhanced attentional regulation of alpha in primary somatosensory cortex (SI. The framework allows us to make several predictions. In chronic pain, we predict somatic attention in ST-Mindfulness de-biases alpha in SI, freeing up pain-focused attentional resources. In depression relapse, we predict ST-Mindfulness’s somatic attention competes with internally focused rumination, as internally focused cognitive processes (e.g., working and short term memory rely on alpha filtering of sensory input. Our computational model (Jones et al, 2009 predicts ST-Mindfulness enhances top-down modulation of alpha by facilitating precise alterations in timing and efficacy of SI thalamocortical inputs. We conclude by considering how the proposed framework aligns with Buddhist teachings that mindfulness starts with mindfulness of the body. Translating this theory into neurophysiology, we hypothesize that with its somatic focus, mindfulness’ top-down alpha rhythm modulation in SI enhances gain control which, in turn, sensitizes practitioners to better detect and regulate when the mind wanders from its somatic focus. This enhanced regulation of somatic mind-wandering may be an early stage of mindfulness training, leading to cognitive regulation and metacognition.

Specific properties of the SI and SII somatosensory areas and their effects on motor control: a system neurophysiological study.

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Friedrich, Julia; Mückschel, Moritz; Beste, Christian

2018-03-01

Sensorimotor integration is essential for successful motor control and the somatosensory modality has been shown to have strong effects on the execution of motor plans. The primary (SI) and the secondary somatosensory (SII) cortices are known to differ in their neuroanatomical connections to prefrontal areas, as well as in their involvement to encode cognitive aspects of tactile processing. Here, we ask whether the area-specific processing architecture or the structural neuroanatomical connections with prefrontal areas determine the efficacy of sensorimotor integration processes for motor control. In a system neurophysiological study including EEG signal decomposition (i.e., residue iteration decomposition, RIDE) and source localization, we investigated this question using vibrotactile stimuli optimized for SI or SII processing. The behavioral data show that when being triggered via the SI area, inhibitory control of motor processes is stronger as when being triggered via the SII area. On a neurophysiological level, these effects were reflected in the C-cluster as a result of a temporal decomposition of EEG data, indicating that the sensory processes affecting motor inhibition modulate the response selection level. These modulations were associated with a stronger activation of the right inferior frontal gyrus extending to the right middle frontal gyrus as parts of a network known to be involved in inhibitory motor control when response inhibition is triggered over SI. In addition, areas important for sensorimotor integration like the postcentral gyrus and superior parietal cortex showed activation differences. The data suggest that connection patterns are more important for sensorimotor integration and control than the more restricted area-specific processing architecture.

Evaluation of various somatosensory stimulations for functional MRI

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hara, Kazushi; Nakasato, Nobukazu; Mizoi, Kazuo; Yoshimoto, Takashi; Shimizu, Hiroaki.

1997-01-01

The aim of this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study was to test detectability of activated area using various somatosensory stimulations. The following stimulations were performed in normal volunteers: regular or irregular electrical median nerve stimulation (n=5, each), tactile stimulation to the palm and fingers (n=8), pain stimulation to the index finger (n=5) or to the palm and fingers (n=5). fMRI was acquired with a spoiled gradient echo sequence at 1.5 T. Detectability of activated area was the highest when the pain stimulation was applied to the palm and fingers (80%). A successful rate for the tactile stimulation was 25%, and the other stimulations failed to demonstrate any activation. When successful, the highest signal activation on fMRI was seen on a sulcus, which presumably arose from a vein. The sulcus was defined as the central sulcus by somatosensory evoked field using a median nerve stimulation. Our study indicates that the pain stimulation to the palm and fingers may be a choice for the sensory fMRI. (author)

Neurophysiological assessment of auditory, peripheral nerve, somatosensory, and visual system function after developmental exposure to gasoline, E15, and E85 vapors.

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — Visual, auditory, somatosensory, and peripheral nerve evoked responses. This dataset is associated with the following publication: Herr , D., D. Freeborn , L. Degn ,...

Somatosensory BOLD fMRI reveals close link between salient blood pressure changes and the murine neuromatrix.

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Reimann, Henning Matthias; Todiras, Mihail; Hodge, Russ; Huelnhagen, Till; Millward, Jason Michael; Turner, Robert; Seeliger, Erdmann; Bader, Michael; Pohlmann, Andreas; Niendorf, Thoralf

2018-05-15

The neuromatrix, or "pain matrix", is a network of cortical brain areas which is activated by noxious as well as salient somatosensory stimulation. This has been studied in mice and humans using blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI. Here we demonstrate that BOLD effects observed in the murine neuromatrix in response to salient somatosensory stimuli are prone to reflect mean arterial blood pressure (MABP) changes, rather than neural activity. We show that a standard electrostimulus typically used in murine somatosensory fMRI can induce substantial elevations in MABP. Equivalent drug-induced MABP changes - without somatosensory stimulation - evoked BOLD patterns in the neuromatrix strikingly similar to those evoked by electrostimulation. This constitutes a serious caveat for murine fMRI. The regional specificity of these BOLD patterns can be attributed to the co-localization of the neuromatrix with large draining veins. Based on these findings we propose a cardiovascular support mechanism whereby abrupt elevations in MABP provide additional energy supply to the neuromatrix and other essential brain areas in fight-or-flight situations. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Alexithymia and Somatosensory Amplification Link Perceived Psychosocial Stress and Somatic Symptoms in Outpatients with Psychosomatic Illness

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Mutsuhiro Nakao

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Background: Psychosomatic patients often complain of a variety of somatic symptoms. We sought to clarify the role of clinical predictors of complaints of somatic symptoms. Methods: We enrolled 604 patients visiting a psychosomatic outpatient clinic. The outcome was the total number of somatic symptoms, and the candidate clinical predictors were perceived psychosocial stress, alexithymia, somatosensory amplification, adaptation, anxiety, and depression. All participants completed questionnaires assessing the outcome and the predictors. Results: The average number of reported somatic symptoms was 4.8; the most frequent was fatigue (75.3%, followed by insomnia (56.1%, low-back pain (49.5%, headache (44.7%, and palpitations (43.1%. Multiple regression analysis showed that the total number of somatic symptoms was significantly associated with the degree of perceived psychosocial stress, alexithymia, somatosensory amplification, and depression. Also, structural equation models indicated links between excessive adaptation (via perceived psychosocial stress, alexithymia, and somatosensory amplification and the total number of somatic symptoms. Conclusion: The results suggested that the association between psychosocial stress and reported somatic symptoms is mediated by alexithymia and somatosensory amplification in psychosomatic patients.

Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Hypermobility Type: Impact of Somatosensory Orthoses on Postural Control (A Pilot Study

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Emma G. Dupuy

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Elhers-Danlos syndrome (EDS is the clinical manifestation of connective tissue disorders, and comprises several clinical forms with no specific symptoms and selective medical examinations which result in a delay in diagnosis of about 10 years. The EDS hypermobility type (hEDS is characterized by generalized joint hypermobility, variable skin hyperextensibility and impaired proprioception. Since somatosensory processing and multisensory integration are crucial for both perception and action, we put forth the hypothesis that somatosensory deficits in hEDS patients may lead, among other clinical symptoms, to misperception of verticality and postural instability. Therefore, the purpose of this study was twofold: (i to assess the impact of somatosensory deficit on subjective visual vertical (SVV and postural stability; and (ii to quantify the effect of wearing somatosensory orthoses (i.e., compressive garments and insoles on postural stability. Six hEDS patients and six age- and gender-matched controls underwent a SVV (sitting, standing, lying on the right side evaluation and a postural control evaluation on a force platform (Synapsys, with or without visual information (eyes open (EO/eyes closed (EC. These two latter conditions performed either without orthoses, or with compression garments (CG, or insoles, or both. Results showed that patients did not exhibit a substantial perceived tilt of the visual vertical in the direction of the body tilt (Aubert effect as did the control subjects. Interestingly, such differential effects were only apparent when the rod was initially positioned to the left of the vertical axis (opposite the longitudinal body axis. In addition, patients showed greater postural instability (sway area than the controls. The removal of vision exacerbated this instability, especially in the mediolateral (ML direction. The wearing of orthoses improved postural stability, especially in the eyes-closed condition, with a particularly

Potential long-term effects of MDMA on the basal ganglia-thalamocortical circuit: a proton MR spectroscopy and diffusion-tensor imaging study.

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Liu, Hua-Shan; Chou, Ming-Chung; Chung, Hsiao-Wen; Cho, Nai-Yu; Chiang, Shih-Wei; Wang, Chao-Ying; Kao, Hung-Wen; Huang, Guo-Shu; Chen, Cheng-Yu

2011-08-01

To investigate the effects of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, commonly known as "ecstasy") on the alterations of brain metabolites and anatomic tissue integrity related to the function of the basal ganglia-thalamocortical circuit by using proton magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy and diffusion-tensor MR imaging. This study was approved by a local institutional review board, and written informed consent was obtained from all subjects. Thirty-one long-term (>1 year) MDMA users and 33 healthy subjects were enrolled. Proton MR spectroscopy from the middle frontal cortex and bilateral basal ganglia and whole-brain diffusion-tensor MR imaging were performed with a 3.0-T system. Absolute concentrations of metabolites were computed, and diffusion-tensor data were registered to the International Consortium for Brain Mapping template to facilitate voxel-based group comparison. The mean myo-inositol level in the basal ganglia of MDMA users (left: 4.55 mmol/L ± 2.01 [standard deviation], right: 4.48 mmol/L ± 1.33) was significantly higher than that in control subjects (left: 3.25 mmol/L ± 1.30, right: 3.31 mmol/L ± 1.19) (P 50 voxels). Increased myo-inositol and Cho concentrations in the basal ganglia of MDMA users are suggestive of glial response to degenerating serotonergic functions. The abnormal metabolic changes in the basal ganglia may consequently affect the inhibitory effect of the basal ganglia to the thalamus, as suggested by the increased FA in the thalamus and abnormal changes in water diffusion in the corresponding basal ganglia-thalamocortical circuit. © RSNA, 2011.

Blood oxygenation level dependent signal and neuronal adaptation to optogenetic and sensory stimulation in somatosensory cortex in awake animals.

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Aksenov, Daniil P; Li, Limin; Miller, Michael J; Wyrwicz, Alice M

2016-11-01

The adaptation of neuronal responses to stimulation, in which a peak transient response is followed by a sustained plateau, has been well-studied. The blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) signal has also been shown to exhibit adaptation on a longer time scale. However, some regions such as the visual and auditory cortices exhibit significant BOLD adaptation, whereas other such as the whisker barrel cortex may not adapt. In the sensory cortex a combination of thalamic inputs and intracortical activity drives hemodynamic changes, although the relative contributions of these components are not entirely understood. The aim of this study is to assess the role of thalamic inputs vs. intracortical processing in shaping BOLD adaptation during stimulation in the somatosensory cortex. Using simultaneous fMRI and electrophysiology in awake rabbits, we measured BOLD, local field potentials (LFPs), single- and multi-unit activity in the cortex during whisker and optogenetic stimulation. This design allowed us to compare BOLD and haemodynamic responses during activation of the normal thalamocortical sensory pathway (i.e., both inputs and intracortical activity) vs. the direct optical activation of intracortical circuitry alone. Our findings show that whereas LFP and multi-unit (MUA) responses adapted, neither optogenetic nor sensory stimulation produced significant BOLD adaptation. We observed for both paradigms a variety of excitatory and inhibitory single unit responses. We conclude that sensory feed-forward thalamic inputs are not primarily responsible for shaping BOLD adaptation to stimuli; but the single-unit results point to a role in this behaviour for specific excitatory and inhibitory neuronal sub-populations, which may not correlate with aggregate neuronal activity. © 2016 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Pheromones enhance somatosensory processing in newt brains through a vasotocin-dependent mechanism.

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Thompson, R R; Dickinson, P S; Rose, J D; Dakin, K A; Civiello, G M; Segerdahl, A; Bartlett, R

2008-07-22

We tested whether the sex pheromones that stimulate courtship clasping in male roughskin newts do so, at least in part, by amplifying the somatosensory signals that directly trigger the motor pattern associated with clasping and, if so, whether that amplification is dependent on endogenous vasotocin (VT). Female olfactory stimuli increased the number of action potentials recorded in the medulla of males in response to tactile stimulation of the cloaca, which triggers the clasp motor reflex, as well as to tactile stimulation of the snout and hindlimb. That enhancement was blocked by exposing the medulla to a V1a receptor antagonist before pheromone exposure. However, the antagonist did not affect medullary responses to tactile stimuli in the absence of pheromone exposure, suggesting that pheromones amplify somatosensory signals by inducing endogenous VT release. The ability of VT to couple sensory systems together in response to social stimulation could allow this peptide to induce variable behavioural outcomes, depending on the immediate context of the social interaction and thus on the nature of the associated stimuli that are amplified. If widespread in vertebrates, this mechanism could account for some of the behavioural variability associated with this and related peptides both within and across species.

Novel assessment of cortical response to somatosensory stimuli in children with hemiparetic cerebral palsy.

Science.gov (United States)

Maitre, Nathalie L; Barnett, Zachary P; Key, Alexandra P F

2012-10-01

The brain's response to somatosensory stimuli is essential to experience-driven learning in children. It was hypothesized that advances in event-related potential technology could quantify the response to touch in somatosensory cortices and characterize the responses of hemiparetic children. In this prospective study of 8 children (5-8 years old) with hemiparetic cerebral palsy, both event-related potential responses to sham or air puff trials and standard functional assessments were used. Event-related potential technology consistently measured signals reflecting activity in the primary and secondary somatosensory cortices as well as complex cognitive processing of touch. Participants showed typical early responses but less efficient perceptual processes. Significant differences between affected and unaffected extremities correlated with sensorimotor testing, stereognosis, and 2-point discrimination (r > 0.800 and P = .001 for all). For the first time, a novel event-related potential paradigm shows that hemiparetic children have slower and less efficient tactile cortical perception in their affected extremities.

Thalamocortical NMDA conductances and intracortical inhibition can explain cortical temporal tuning

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Krukowski, A. E.; Miller, K. D.

2001-01-01

Cells in cerebral cortex fail to respond to fast-moving stimuli that evoke strong responses in the thalamic nuclei innervating the cortex. The reason for this behavior has remained a mystery. We study an experimentally motivated model of the thalamic input-recipient layer of cat primary visual cortex that accounts for many aspects of cortical orientation tuning. In this circuit, inhibition dominates over excitation, but temporal modulations of excitation and inhibition occur out of phase with one another, allowing excitation to transiently drive cells. We show that this circuit provides a natural explanation of cortical low-pass temporal frequency tuning, provided N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors are present in thalamocortical synapses in proportions measured experimentally. This suggests a new and unanticipated role for NMDA conductances in shaping the temporal response properties of cortical cells, and suggests that common cortical circuit mechanisms underlie both spatial and temporal response tuning.

Cortical Local Field Potential Power Is Associated with Behavioral Detection of Near-threshold Stimuli in the Rat Whisker System: Dissociation between Orbitofrontal and Somatosensory Cortices.

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Rickard, Rachel E; Young, Andrew M J; Gerdjikov, Todor V

2018-01-01

There is growing evidence that ongoing brain oscillations may represent a key regulator of attentional processes and as such may contribute to behavioral performance in psychophysical tasks. OFC appears to be involved in the top-down modulation of sensory processing; however, the specific contribution of ongoing OFC oscillations to perception has not been characterized. Here we used the rat whiskers as a model system to further characterize the relationship between cortical state and tactile detection. Head-fixed rats were trained to report the presence of a vibrotactile stimulus (frequency = 60 Hz, duration = 2 sec, deflection amplitude = 0.01-0.5 mm) applied to a single vibrissa. We calculated power spectra of local field potentials preceding the onset of near-threshold stimuli from microelectrodes chronically implanted in OFC and somatosensory cortex. We found a dissociation between slow oscillation power in the two regions in relation to detection probability: Higher OFC but not somatosensory delta power was associated with increased detection probability. Furthermore, coherence between OFC and barrel cortex was reduced preceding successful detection. Consistent with the role of OFC in attention, our results identify a cortical network whose activity is differentially modulated before successful tactile detection.

Spinal N13 versus cortical N20 and dermatomal somatosensory ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Mohamed Imam

2013-04-06

Apr 6, 2013 ... Spinal N13 versus cortical N20 and dermatomal somatosensory .... recording point for the right upper limb stimulation and the. C40 for the left upper limb stimulation. The reference ..... Brain 1992;115:1209–34. 298. M. Imam ...

Reduced resting state functional connectivity of the somatosensory cortex predicts psychopathological symptoms in women with bulimia nervosa

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Luca eLavagnino

2014-08-01

Full Text Available BackgroundAlterations in the resting state functional connectivity (rs-FC of several brain networks have been demonstrated in eating disorders. However, very few studies are currently available on brain network dysfunctions in bulimia nervosa (BN. The somatosensory network is central in processing body-related stimuli and it may be altered in BN. The present study therefore aimed to investigate rs-FC in the somatosensory network in bulimic women. MethodsSixteen medication-free women with BN (age=23±5 years and 18 matched controls (age=23±3 years underwent a functional magnetic resonance resting state scan and assessment of eating disorder symptoms. Within-network and seed-based functional connectivity analyses were conducted to assess rs-FC within the somatosensory network and to other areas of the brain. ResultsBN patients showed a decreased resting state functional connectivity both within the somatosensory network (t=9.0, df=1, P=0.005 and with posterior cingulate cortex (PCC and two visual areas (the right middle occipital gyrus and the right cuneus(P=0.05 corrected for multiple comparison. The region in the right middle occipital gyrus is implicated in body processing and is known as extrastriate body area, or EBA. The rs-FC of the left paracentral lobule with the EBA correlated with psychopathology measures like bulimia (r=-0.4; P=0.02 and interoceptive awareness (r=-0.4; P=0.01. Analyses were conducted using age, BMI (body mass index and depressive symptoms as covariates. ConclusionsOur findings show a specific alteration of the rs-FC of the somatosensory cortex in BN patients, which correlates with eating disorder symptoms. The connectivity between the somatosensory cortex and the EBA might be related to dysfunctions in body image processing. The results should be considered preliminary due to the small sample size.

Reduced resting-state functional connectivity of the somatosensory cortex predicts psychopathological symptoms in women with bulimia nervosa.

Science.gov (United States)

Lavagnino, Luca; Amianto, Federico; D'Agata, Federico; Huang, Zirui; Mortara, Paolo; Abbate-Daga, Giovanni; Marzola, Enrica; Spalatro, Angela; Fassino, Secondo; Northoff, Georg

2014-01-01

Alterations in the resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) of several brain networks have been demonstrated in eating disorders. However, very few studies are currently available on brain network dysfunctions in bulimia nervosa (BN). The somatosensory network is central in processing body-related stimuli and it may be altered in BN. The present study therefore aimed to investigate rs-FC in the somatosensory network in bulimic women. Sixteen medication-free women with BN (age = 23 ± 5 years) and 18 matched controls (age = 23 ± 3 years) underwent a functional magnetic resonance resting-state scan and assessment of eating disorder symptoms. Within-network and seed-based functional connectivity analyses were conducted to assess rs-FC within the somatosensory network and to other areas of the brain. Bulimia nervosa patients showed a decreased rs-FC both within the somatosensory network (t = 9.0, df = 1, P = 0.005) and with posterior cingulate cortex and two visual areas (the right middle occipital gyrus and the right cuneus) (P = 0.05 corrected for multiple comparison). The rs-FC of the left paracentral lobule with the right middle occipital gyrus correlated with psychopathology measures like bulimia (r = -0.4; P = 0.02) and interoceptive awareness (r = -0.4; P = 0.01). Analyses were conducted using age, BMI (body mass index), and depressive symptoms as covariates. Our findings show a specific alteration of the rs-FC of the somatosensory cortex in BN patients, which correlates with eating disorder symptoms. The region in the right middle occipital gyrus is implicated in body processing and is known as extrastriate body area (EBA). The connectivity between the somatosensory cortex and the EBA might be related to dysfunctions in body image processing. The results should be considered preliminary due to the small sample size.

Magnetoencephalographic Imaging of Auditory and Somatosensory Cortical Responses in Children with Autism and Sensory Processing Dysfunction

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Carly Demopoulos

2017-05-01

Full Text Available This study compared magnetoencephalographic (MEG imaging-derived indices of auditory and somatosensory cortical processing in children aged 8–12 years with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; N = 18, those with sensory processing dysfunction (SPD; N = 13 who do not meet ASD criteria, and typically developing control (TDC; N = 19 participants. The magnitude of responses to both auditory and tactile stimulation was comparable across all three groups; however, the M200 latency response from the left auditory cortex was significantly delayed in the ASD group relative to both the TDC and SPD groups, whereas the somatosensory response of the ASD group was only delayed relative to TDC participants. The SPD group did not significantly differ from either group in terms of somatosensory latency, suggesting that participants with SPD may have an intermediate phenotype between ASD and TDC with regard to somatosensory processing. For the ASD group, correlation analyses indicated that the left M200 latency delay was significantly associated with performance on the WISC-IV Verbal Comprehension Index as well as the DSTP Acoustic-Linguistic index. Further, these cortical auditory response delays were not associated with somatosensory cortical response delays or cognitive processing speed in the ASD group, suggesting that auditory delays in ASD are domain specific rather than associated with generalized processing delays. The specificity of these auditory delays to the ASD group, in addition to their correlation with verbal abilities, suggests that auditory sensory dysfunction may be implicated in communication symptoms in ASD, motivating further research aimed at understanding the impact of sensory dysfunction on the developing brain.

Auditory-somatosensory temporal sensitivity improves when the somatosensory event is caused by voluntary body movement

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Norimichi Kitagawa

2016-12-01

Full Text Available When we actively interact with the environment, it is crucial that we perceive a precise temporal relationship between our own actions and sensory effects to guide our body movements.Thus, we hypothesized that voluntary movements improve perceptual sensitivity to the temporal disparity between auditory and movement-related somatosensory events compared to when they are delivered passively to sensory receptors. In the voluntary condition, participants voluntarily tapped a button, and a noise burst was presented at various onset asynchronies relative to the button press. The participants made either 'sound-first' or 'touch-first' responses. We found that the performance of temporal order judgment (TOJ in the voluntary condition (as indexed by the just noticeable difference was significantly better (M=42.5 ms ±3.8 s.e.m than that when their finger was passively stimulated (passive condition: M=66.8 ms ±6.3 s.e.m. We further examined whether the performance improvement with voluntary action can be attributed to the prediction of the timing of the stimulation from sensory cues (sensory-based prediction, kinesthetic cues contained in voluntary action, and/or to the prediction of stimulation timing from the efference copy of the motor command (motor-based prediction. When the participant’s finger was moved passively to press the button (involuntary condition and when three noise bursts were presented before the target burst with regular intervals (predictable condition, the TOJ performance was not improved from that in the passive condition. These results suggest that the improvement in sensitivity to temporal disparity between somatosensory and auditory events caused by the voluntary action cannot be attributed to sensory-based prediction and kinesthetic cues. Rather, the prediction from the efference copy of the motor command would be crucial for improving the temporal sensitivity.

Beta 2-adrenergic receptors are colocalized and coregulated with whisker barrels in rat somatosensory cortex

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vos, P.; Kaufmann, D.; Hand, P.J.; Wolfe, B.B.

1990-01-01

Autoradiography has been used to visualize independently the subtypes of beta-adrenergic receptors in rat somatosensory cortex. Beta 2-adrenergic receptors, but not beta 1-adrenergic receptors colocalize with whisker barrels in this tissue. Thus, each whisker sends a specific multisynaptic pathway to the somatosensory cortex that can be histochemically visualized and only one subtype of beta-adrenergic receptor is specifically associated with this cortical representation. Additionally, neonatal lesion of any or all of the whisker follicles results in loss of the corresponding barrel(s) as shown by histochemical markers. This loss is paralleled by a similar loss in the organization of beta 2-adrenergic receptors in the somatosensory cortex. Other results indicate that these beta 2-adrenergic receptors are not involved in moment-to-moment signal transmission in this pathway and, additionally, are not involved in a gross way in the development of whisker-barrel array

The Processing of Somatosensory Information shifts from an early parallel into a serial processing mode: a combined fMRI/MEG study.

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Carsten Michael Klingner

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The question regarding whether somatosensory inputs are processed in parallel or in series has not been clearly answered. Several studies that have applied dynamic causal modeling (DCM to fMRI data have arrived at seemingly divergent conclusions. However, these divergent results could be explained by the hypothesis that the processing route of somatosensory information changes with time. Specifically, we suggest that somatosensory stimuli are processed in parallel only during the early stage, whereas the processing is later dominated by serial processing. This hypothesis was revisited in the present study based on fMRI analyses of tactile stimuli and the application of DCM to magnetoencephalographic (MEG data collected during sustained (260 ms tactile stimulation. Bayesian model comparisons were used to infer the processing stream. We demonstrated that the favored processing stream changes over time. We found that the neural activity elicited in the first 100 ms following somatosensory stimuli is best explained by models that support a parallel processing route, whereas a serial processing route is subsequently favored. These results suggest that the secondary somatosensory area (SII receives information regarding a new stimulus in parallel with the primary somatosensory area (SI, whereas later processing in the SII is dominated by the preprocessed input from the SI.

The Processing of Somatosensory Information Shifts from an Early Parallel into a Serial Processing Mode: A Combined fMRI/MEG Study.

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Klingner, Carsten M; Brodoehl, Stefan; Huonker, Ralph; Witte, Otto W

2016-01-01

The question regarding whether somatosensory inputs are processed in parallel or in series has not been clearly answered. Several studies that have applied dynamic causal modeling (DCM) to fMRI data have arrived at seemingly divergent conclusions. However, these divergent results could be explained by the hypothesis that the processing route of somatosensory information changes with time. Specifically, we suggest that somatosensory stimuli are processed in parallel only during the early stage, whereas the processing is later dominated by serial processing. This hypothesis was revisited in the present study based on fMRI analyses of tactile stimuli and the application of DCM to magnetoencephalographic (MEG) data collected during sustained (260 ms) tactile stimulation. Bayesian model comparisons were used to infer the processing stream. We demonstrated that the favored processing stream changes over time. We found that the neural activity elicited in the first 100 ms following somatosensory stimuli is best explained by models that support a parallel processing route, whereas a serial processing route is subsequently favored. These results suggest that the secondary somatosensory area (SII) receives information regarding a new stimulus in parallel with the primary somatosensory area (SI), whereas later processing in the SII is dominated by the preprocessed input from the SI.

Multimodal and widespread somatosensory abnormalities in persistent shoulder pain in the first 6 months after stroke: an exploratory study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Roosink, M.; van Dongen, R.T.; Buitenweg, J.R.; Renzenbrink, G.J.; Geurts, A.C.H.; IJzerman, M.J.

2012-01-01

Roosink M, Van Dongen RT, Buitenweg JR, Renzenbrink GJ, Geurts AC, IJzerman MJ. Multimodal and widespread somatosensory abnormalities in persistent shoulder pain in the first 6 months after stroke: an exploratory study. OBJECTIVE: To explore the role of multimodal and widespread somatosensory

Vibration and muscle contraction affect somatosensory evoked potentials

OpenAIRE

Cohen, LG; Starr, A

1985-01-01

We recorded potentials evoked by specific somatosensory stimuli over peripheral nerve, spinal cord, and cerebral cortex. Vibration attenuated spinal and cerebral potentials evoked by mixed nerve and muscle spindle stimulation; in one subject that was tested, there was no effect on cutaneous input. Presynaptic inhibition of Ia input in the spinal cord and muscle spindle receptor occupancy are probably the responsible mechanisms. In contrast, muscle contraction attenuated cerebral potentials to...

Presurgical thalamocortical connectivity is associated with response to vagus nerve stimulation in children with intractable epilepsy

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George M. Ibrahim

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Although chronic vagus nerve stimulation (VNS is an established treatment for medically-intractable childhood epilepsy, there is considerable heterogeneity in seizure response and little data are available to pre-operatively identify patients who may benefit from treatment. Since the therapeutic effect of VNS may be mediated by afferent projections to the thalamus, we tested the hypothesis that intrinsic thalamocortical connectivity is associated with seizure response following chronic VNS in children with epilepsy. Twenty-one children (ages 5–21 years with medically-intractable epilepsy underwent resting-state fMRI prior to implantation of VNS. Ten received sedation, while 11 did not. Whole brain connectivity to thalamic regions of interest was performed. Multivariate generalized linear models were used to correlate resting-state data with seizure outcomes, while adjusting for age and sedation status. A supervised support vector machine (SVM algorithm was used to classify response to chronic VNS on the basis of intrinsic connectivity. Of the 21 subjects, 11 (52% had 50% or greater improvement in seizure control after VNS. Enhanced connectivity of the thalami to the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC and left insula was associated with greater VNS efficacy. Within our test cohort, SVM correctly classified response to chronic VNS with 86% accuracy. In an external cohort of 8 children, the predictive model correctly classified the seizure response with 88% accuracy. We find that enhanced intrinsic connectivity within thalamocortical circuitry is associated with seizure response following VNS. These results encourage the study of intrinsic connectivity to inform neural network-based, personalized treatment decisions for children with intractable epilepsy.

Somatosensory neuron types identified by high-coverage single-cell RNA-sequencing and functional heterogeneity

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Chang-Lin; Li, Kai-Cheng; Wu, Dan; Chen, Yan; Luo, Hao; Zhao, Jing-Rong; Wang, Sa-Shuang; Sun, Ming-Ming; Lu, Ying-Jin; Zhong, Yan-Qing; Hu, Xu-Ye; Hou, Rui; Zhou, Bei-Bei; Bao, Lan; Xiao, Hua-Sheng; Zhang, Xu

2016-01-01

Sensory neurons are distinguished by distinct signaling networks and receptive characteristics. Thus, sensory neuron types can be defined by linking transcriptome-based neuron typing with the sensory phenotypes. Here we classify somatosensory neurons of the mouse dorsal root ganglion (DRG) by high-coverage single-cell RNA-sequencing (10 950 ± 1 218 genes per neuron) and neuron size-based hierarchical clustering. Moreover, single DRG neurons responding to cutaneous stimuli are recorded using an in vivo whole-cell patch clamp technique and classified by neuron-type genetic markers. Small diameter DRG neurons are classified into one type of low-threshold mechanoreceptor and five types of mechanoheat nociceptors (MHNs). Each of the MHN types is further categorized into two subtypes. Large DRG neurons are categorized into four types, including neurexophilin 1-expressing MHNs and mechanical nociceptors (MNs) expressing BAI1-associated protein 2-like 1 (Baiap2l1). Mechanoreceptors expressing trafficking protein particle complex 3-like and Baiap2l1-marked MNs are subdivided into two subtypes each. These results provide a new system for cataloging somatosensory neurons and their transcriptome databases. PMID:26691752

Transcriptional profiling at whole population and single cell levels reveals somatosensory neuron molecular diversity

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Chiu, Isaac M; Barrett, Lee B; Williams, Erika K; Strochlic, David E; Lee, Seungkyu; Weyer, Andy D; Lou, Shan; Bryman, Gregory S; Roberson, David P; Ghasemlou, Nader; Piccoli, Cara; Ahat, Ezgi; Wang, Victor; Cobos, Enrique J; Stucky, Cheryl L; Ma, Qiufu; Liberles, Stephen D; Woolf, Clifford J

2014-01-01

The somatosensory nervous system is critical for the organism's ability to respond to mechanical, thermal, and nociceptive stimuli. Somatosensory neurons are functionally and anatomically diverse but their molecular profiles are not well-defined. Here, we used transcriptional profiling to analyze the detailed molecular signatures of dorsal root ganglion (DRG) sensory neurons. We used two mouse reporter lines and surface IB4 labeling to purify three major non-overlapping classes of neurons: 1) IB4+SNS-Cre/TdTomato+, 2) IB4−SNS-Cre/TdTomato+, and 3) Parv-Cre/TdTomato+ cells, encompassing the majority of nociceptive, pruriceptive, and proprioceptive neurons. These neurons displayed distinct expression patterns of ion channels, transcription factors, and GPCRs. Highly parallel qRT-PCR analysis of 334 single neurons selected by membership of the three populations demonstrated further diversity, with unbiased clustering analysis identifying six distinct subgroups. These data significantly increase our knowledge of the molecular identities of known DRG populations and uncover potentially novel subsets, revealing the complexity and diversity of those neurons underlying somatosensation. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.04660.001 PMID:25525749

Thalamocortical dynamics of the McCollough effect: boundary-surface alignment through perceptual learning.

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Grossberg, Stephen; Hwang, Seungwoo; Mingolla, Ennio

2002-05-01

This article further develops the FACADE neural model of 3-D vision and figure-ground perception to quantitatively explain properties of the McCollough effect (ME). The model proposes that many ME data result from visual system mechanisms whose primary function is to adaptively align, through learning, boundary and surface representations that are positionally shifted due to the process of binocular fusion. For example, binocular boundary representations are shifted by binocular fusion relative to monocular surface representations, yet the boundaries must become positionally aligned with the surfaces to control binocular surface capture and filling-in. The model also includes perceptual reset mechanisms that use habituative transmitters in opponent processing circuits. Thus the model shows how ME data may arise from a combination of mechanisms that have a clear functional role in biological vision. Simulation results with a single set of parameters quantitatively fit data from 13 experiments that probe the nature of achromatic/chromatic and monocular/binocular interactions during induction of the ME. The model proposes how perceptual learning, opponent processing, and habituation at both monocular and binocular surface representations are involved, including early thalamocortical sites. In particular, it explains the anomalous ME utilizing these multiple processing sites. Alternative models of the ME are also summarized and compared with the present model.

The influence of visual perspective on the somatosensory steady-state response during pain observation

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Dora Linsey Canizales

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The observation and evaluation of other's pain activate part of the neuronal network involved in the actual experience of pain, including those regions subserving the sensori-discriminative dimension of pain. This was largely interpreted as evidence showing that part of the painful experience can be shared vicariously. Here, we investigated the effect of the visual perspective from which other people’s pain is seen on the cortical response to continuous 25 Hz non-painful somatosensory stimulation (somatosensory steady-state response: SSSR. Based on the shared representation framework, we expected first-person visual perspective (1PP to yield more changes in cortical activity than third-person visual perspective (3PP during pain observation. Twenty healthy adults were instructed to rate a series of pseudo-dynamic pictures depicting hands in either painful or non-painful scenarios, presented either in 1PP (0°-45° angle or 3PP (180° angle, while changes in brain activity was measured with a 128-electode EEG system. The ratings demonstrated that the same scenarios were rated on average as more painful when observed from the 1PP than from the 3PP. As expected from previous works, the SSSR response was decreased after stimulus onset over the left caudal part of the parieto-central cortex, contralateral to the stimulation side. Moreover, the difference between the SSSR was of greater amplitude when the painful situations were presented from the 1PP compared to the 3PP. Together, these results suggest that a visuospatial congruence between the viewer and the observed scenarios is associated with both a higher subjective evaluation of pain and an increased modulation in the somatosensory representation of observed pain. These findings are discussed with regards to the potential role of visual perspective in pain communication and empathy.

Chronic stress and peripheral pain: Evidence for distinct, region-specific changes in visceral and somatosensory pain regulatory pathways.

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Zheng, Gen; Hong, Shuangsong; Hayes, John M; Wiley, John W

2015-11-01

Chronic stress alters the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and enhances visceral and somatosensory pain perception. It is unresolved whether chronic stress has distinct effects on visceral and somatosensory pain regulatory pathways. Previous studies reported that stress-induced visceral hyperalgesia is associated with reciprocal alterations of endovanilloid and endocannabinoid pain pathways in DRG neurons innervating the pelvic viscera. In this study, we compared somatosensory and visceral hyperalgesia with respect to differential responses of peripheral pain regulatory pathways in a rat model of chronic, intermittent stress. We found that chronic stress induced reciprocal changes in the endocannabinoid 2-AG (increased) and endocannabinoid degradation enzymes COX-2 and FAAH (decreased), associated with down-regulation of CB1 and up-regulation of TRPV1 receptors in L6-S2 DRG but not L4-L5 DRG neurons. In contrast, sodium channels Nav1.7 and Nav1.8 were up-regulated in L4-L5 but not L6-S2 DRGs in stressed rats, which was reproduced in control DRGs treated with corticosterone in vitro. The reciprocal changes of CB1, TRPV1 and sodium channels were cell-specific and observed in the sub-population of nociceptive neurons. Behavioral assessment showed that visceral hyperalgesia persisted, whereas somatosensory hyperalgesia and enhanced expression of Nav1.7 and Nav1.8 sodium channels in L4-L5 DRGs normalized 3 days after completion of the stress phase. These data indicate that chronic stress induces visceral and somatosensory hyperalgesia that involves differential changes in endovanilloid and endocannabinoid pathways, and sodium channels in DRGs innervating the pelvic viscera and lower extremities. These results suggest that chronic stress-induced visceral and lower extremity somatosensory hyperalgesia can be treated selectively at different levels of the spinal cord. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Disruption of visuospatial and somatosensory functional connectivity in anorexia nervosa.

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Favaro, Angela; Santonastaso, Paolo; Manara, Renzo; Bosello, Romina; Bommarito, Giulia; Tenconi, Elena; Di Salle, Francesco

2012-11-15

Although body image disturbance is considered one of the core characteristics of anorexia nervosa (AN), the exact nature of this complex feature is poorly understood. Task-related functional magnetic resonance imaging studies can only partially explore the multimodal complexity of body consciousness, which is a complex cognition underpinned by aspects of visual perception, proprioception, and touch. The aim of the present study was to explore the functional connectivity of networks involved in visuospatial and somatosensory processing in AN. Twenty-nine subjects with AN, 16 women who had recovered from it, and 26 healthy women underwent a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scan and neuropsychological assessment of their visuospatial abilities using the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test. Both AN groups showed areas of decreased connectivity in the ventral visual network, a network involved in the "what?" pathway of visual perception. Even more interestingly, the AN group, but not the recovered AN group, displayed increased coactivation in the left parietal cortex, encompassing the somatosensory cortex, in an area implicated in long-term multimodal spatial memory and representation, even in the absence of visual information. A neuropsychological assessment of visuospatial abilities revealed that aspects of detail processing and global integration (central coherence) showed correlations with connectivity of this brain area in the AN group. Our findings show that AN is associated with double disruption of brain connectivity, which shows a specific association with visuospatial difficulties and may explain the failure of the integration process between visual and somatosensory perceptual information that might sustain body image disturbance. Copyright © 2012 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Mapping thalamocortical network pathology in temporal lobe epilepsy.

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Bernhardt, Boris C; Bernasconi, Neda; Kim, Hosung; Bernasconi, Andrea

2012-01-10

Although experimental work has provided evidence that the thalamus is a crucial relay structure in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), the relation of the thalamus to neocortical pathology remains unclear. To assess thalamocortical network pathology in TLE, we mapped pointwise patterns of thalamic atrophy and statistically related them to neocortical thinning. We studied cross-sectionally 36 patients with drug-resistant TLE and 19 age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects using high-resolution MRI. To localize thalamic pathology, we converted manual labels into surface meshes using the spherical harmonic description and calculated local deformations relative to a template. In addition, we measured cortical thickness by means of the constrained Laplacian anatomic segmentation using proximity algorithm. Compared with control subjects, patients with TLE showed ipsilateral thalamic atrophy that was located along the medial surface, encompassing anterior, medial, and posterior divisions. Unbiased analysis correlating the degree of medial thalamic atrophy with cortical thickness measurements mapped bilateral frontocentral, lateral temporal, and mesiotemporal cortices. These areas overlapped with those of cortical thinning found when patients were compared with control subjects. Thalamic atrophy intensified with a longer duration of epilepsy and was more severe in patients with a history of febrile convulsions. The degree and distribution of thalamic pathology relates to the topography and extent of neocortical atrophy, lending support to the concept that the thalamus is an important hub in the pathologic network of TLE.

Asymmetric Functional Connectivity of the Contra- and Ipsilateral Secondary Somatosensory Cortex during Tactile Object Recognition

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Yinghua Yu

2018-01-01

Full Text Available In the somatosensory system, it is well known that the bilateral secondary somatosensory cortex (SII receives projections from the unilateral primary somatosensory cortex (SI, and the SII, in turn, sends feedback projections to SI. Most neuroimaging studies have clearly shown bilateral SII activation using only unilateral stimulation for both anatomical and functional connectivity across SII subregions. However, no study has unveiled differences in the functional connectivity of the contra- and ipsilateral SII network that relates to frontoparietal areas during tactile object recognition. Therefore, we used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI and a delayed match-to-sample (DMS task to investigate the contributions of bilateral SII during tactile object recognition. In the fMRI experiment, 14 healthy subjects were presented with tactile angle stimuli on their right index finger and asked to encode three sample stimuli during the encoding phase and one test stimulus during the recognition phase. Then, the subjects indicated whether the angle of test stimulus was presented during the encoding phase. The results showed that contralateral (left SII activity was greater than ipsilateral (right SII activity during the encoding phase, but there was no difference during the recognition phase. A subsequent psycho-physiological interaction (PPI analysis revealed distinct connectivity from the contra- and ipsilateral SII to other regions. The left SII functionally connected to the left SI and right primary and premotor cortex, while the right SII functionally connected to the left posterior parietal cortex (PPC. Our findings suggest that in situations involving unilateral tactile object recognition, contra- and ipsilateral SII will induce an asymmetrical functional connectivity to other brain areas, which may occur by the hand contralateral effect of SII.

Detection of optogenetic stimulation in somatosensory cortex by non-human primates--towards artificial tactile sensation.

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May, Travis; Ozden, Ilker; Brush, Benjamin; Borton, David; Wagner, Fabien; Agha, Naubahar; Sheinberg, David L; Nurmikko, Arto V

2014-01-01

Neuroprosthesis research aims to enable communication between the brain and external assistive devices while restoring lost functionality such as occurs from stroke, spinal cord injury or neurodegenerative diseases. In future closed-loop sensorimotor prostheses, one approach is to use neuromodulation as direct stimulus to the brain to compensate for a lost sensory function and help the brain to integrate relevant information for commanding external devices via, e.g. movement intention. Current neuromodulation techniques rely mainly of electrical stimulation. Here we focus specifically on the question of eliciting a biomimetically relevant sense of touch by direct stimulus of the somatosensory cortex by introducing optogenetic techniques as an alternative to electrical stimulation. We demonstrate that light activated opsins can be introduced to target neurons in the somatosensory cortex of non-human primates and be optically activated to create a reliably detected sensation which the animal learns to interpret as a tactile sensation localized within the hand. The accomplishment highlighted here shows how optical stimulation of a relatively small group of mostly excitatory somatosensory neurons in the nonhuman primate brain is sufficient for eliciting a useful sensation from data acquired by simultaneous electrophysiology and from behavioral metrics. In this first report to date on optically neuromodulated behavior in the somatosensory cortex of nonhuman primates we do not yet dissect the details of the sensation the animals exerience or contrast it to those evoked by electrical stimulation, issues of considerable future interest.

Detection of optogenetic stimulation in somatosensory cortex by non-human primates--towards artificial tactile sensation.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Travis May

Full Text Available Neuroprosthesis research aims to enable communication between the brain and external assistive devices while restoring lost functionality such as occurs from stroke, spinal cord injury or neurodegenerative diseases. In future closed-loop sensorimotor prostheses, one approach is to use neuromodulation as direct stimulus to the brain to compensate for a lost sensory function and help the brain to integrate relevant information for commanding external devices via, e.g. movement intention. Current neuromodulation techniques rely mainly of electrical stimulation. Here we focus specifically on the question of eliciting a biomimetically relevant sense of touch by direct stimulus of the somatosensory cortex by introducing optogenetic techniques as an alternative to electrical stimulation. We demonstrate that light activated opsins can be introduced to target neurons in the somatosensory cortex of non-human primates and be optically activated to create a reliably detected sensation which the animal learns to interpret as a tactile sensation localized within the hand. The accomplishment highlighted here shows how optical stimulation of a relatively small group of mostly excitatory somatosensory neurons in the nonhuman primate brain is sufficient for eliciting a useful sensation from data acquired by simultaneous electrophysiology and from behavioral metrics. In this first report to date on optically neuromodulated behavior in the somatosensory cortex of nonhuman primates we do not yet dissect the details of the sensation the animals exerience or contrast it to those evoked by electrical stimulation, issues of considerable future interest.

Somatosensory sensitivity in patients with persistent idiopathic orofacial pain is associated with pain relief from hypnosis and relaxation.

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Baad-Hansen, Lene; Abrahamsen, Randi; Zachariae, Robert; List, Thomas; Svensson, Peter

2013-06-01

In a recent study hypnosis has been found to relieve persistent idiopathic orofacial pain. Quantitative sensory testing (QST) is widely used to evaluate somatosensory sensitivity, which has been suggested as a possible predictor of management outcome. The objectives of this study were to examine: (1) possible associations between clinical pain relief and baseline somatosensory sensitivity and (2) the effect of hypnosis management on QST parameters. Forty-one patients with persistent idiopathic orofacial pain completed this randomized controlled study in 1 of 2 groups: hypnosis (hypnotic analgesia suggestions) or control (relaxation). QST at 2 intraoral (pain region and contralateral mirror image region) and 3 extraoral (hand and both cheeks) sites was performed at baseline and after the hypnosis/control management, together with pressure pain thresholds and pressure pain tolerance thresholds determined bilaterally at the masseter and temporalis muscles, the temporomandibular joints, and the third finger. Degree of pain relief was negatively correlated with a summary statistic of baseline somatosensory sensitivity (summed z-score), that is, high baseline somatosensory sensitivity was associated with low pain relief (r=-0.372, P=0.020). Hypnosis had no major effect on any QST measure compared with relaxation (P>0.063). High pain sensitivity at baseline may predict poor pain management outcome. In addition, despite clear clinical pain relief, hypnosis did not significantly or specifically influence somatosensory sensitivity. Future studies should further explore QST measures as possible predictors of different management response in orofacial pain conditions.

A functional MRI study of somatotopic representation of somatosensory stimulation in the cerebellum

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Takanashi, M.; Abe, K.; Yanagihara, T.; Sakoda, S. [Dept. of Neurology D4, Osaka Univ. Graduate School of Medicine, Suita City, Osaka (Japan); Tanaka, H.; Hirabuki, N.; Nakamura, H.; Fujita, N. [Dept. of Radiology, Osaka Univ. Graduate School of Medicine, Suita City, Osaka (Japan)

2003-03-01

Somatotopic representation in the cerebral cortex of somatosensory stimulation has been widely reported, but that in the cerebellum has not. We investigated the latter in the human cerebellum by functional MRI (fMRI). Using a 1.5 tesla imager, we obtained multislice blood oxygen level-dependent fMRI with single-shot gradient-echo echoplanar imaging in seven right-handed volunteers during electrical stimulation of the left index finger and big toe. In the anterior and posterior cerebellum, activated pixels for the index finger were separate from those for the toe. This suggests that somatosensory stimulation of different parts of the body may involve distinct areas of in the cerebellum as well as the cerebral cortex. (orig.)

A functional MRI study of somatotopic representation of somatosensory stimulation in the cerebellum

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takanashi, M.; Abe, K.; Yanagihara, T.; Sakoda, S.; Tanaka, H.; Hirabuki, N.; Nakamura, H.; Fujita, N.

2003-01-01

Somatotopic representation in the cerebral cortex of somatosensory stimulation has been widely reported, but that in the cerebellum has not. We investigated the latter in the human cerebellum by functional MRI (fMRI). Using a 1.5 tesla imager, we obtained multislice blood oxygen level-dependent fMRI with single-shot gradient-echo echoplanar imaging in seven right-handed volunteers during electrical stimulation of the left index finger and big toe. In the anterior and posterior cerebellum, activated pixels for the index finger were separate from those for the toe. This suggests that somatosensory stimulation of different parts of the body may involve distinct areas of in the cerebellum as well as the cerebral cortex. (orig.)

Inhibitory Control in the Cortico-Basal Ganglia-Thalamocortical Loop: Complex Regulation and Interplay with Memory and Decision Processes.

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Wei, Wei; Wang, Xiao-Jing

2016-12-07

We developed a circuit model of spiking neurons that includes multiple pathways in the basal ganglia (BG) and is endowed with feedback mechanisms at three levels: cortical microcircuit, corticothalamic loop, and cortico-BG-thalamocortical system. We focused on executive control in a stop signal task, which is known to depend on BG across species. The model reproduces a range of experimental observations and shows that the newly discovered feedback projection from external globus pallidus to striatum is crucial for inhibitory control. Moreover, stopping process is enhanced by the cortico-subcortical reverberatory dynamics underlying persistent activity, establishing interdependence between working memory and inhibitory control. Surprisingly, the stop signal reaction time (SSRT) can be adjusted by weights of certain connections but is insensitive to other connections in this complex circuit, suggesting novel circuit-based intervention for inhibitory control deficits associated with mental illness. Our model provides a unified framework for inhibitory control, decision making, and working memory. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Attentional Modulation of Somatosensory Processing During the Anticipation of Movements Accompanying Pain: An Event-Related Potential Study.

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Clauwaert, Amanda; Torta, Diana M; Danneels, Lieven; Van Damme, Stefaan

2018-02-01

Attending to pain-relevant information is crucial to protect us from physical harm. Behavioral studies have already suggested that during anticipation of pain somatosensory input at the body location under threat is prioritized. However, research using daily life cues for pain, especially movements, is lacking. Furthermore, to our knowledge, no studies have investigated cortical processing associated with somatosensory processing during threatened movements. The current study aims to investigate whether movements accompanying pain automatically steer attention toward somatosensory input at the threatened location, affecting somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs). Healthy volunteers were cued to perform movements with the left or the right hand, and one of these movements could be accompanied by pain on the moving hand. During movement anticipation, a task-irrelevant tactile stimulus was presented to the threatened or pain-free hand to evoke SEPs. During anticipation of movements accompanying pain, the N120 component was increased for tactile stimuli at the threatened relative to the hand without pain. Moreover, the P200 SEP was enhanced during anticipation of movements accompanying pain relative to movements without pain, irrespective of which hand was stimulated. These findings show that the anticipation of pain-accompanying movements may affect the processing of somatosensory input, and that this is likely to be driven by attentional processes. This study shows that the anticipation of pain-related movements automatically biases attention toward stimuli at a pain-related location, measured according to SEPs. The present study provides important new insights in the interplay between pain and attention, and its consequences at the cortical level. Copyright © 2017 The American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Somatosensory amplification mediates sex differences in psychological distress among cardioverter-defibrillator patients

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Versteeg, Henneke; Baumert, Jens; Kolb, Christof

2010-01-01

The present study examined whether female patients with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) report more psychological distress than male patients, and whether somatosensory amplification mediates this relationship. Design: Consecutive ICD patients (N = 241; 33% women) participating in...

Quantifying interhemispheric symmetry of somatosensory evoked potentials with the intraclass correlation coefficient

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van de Wassenberg, Wilma J. G.; van der Hoeven, Johannes H.; Leenders, Klaus L.; Maurits, Natasha M.

Although large intersubject variability is reported for cortical somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs), variability between hemispheres within one subject is thought to be small. Therefore, interhemispheric comparison of SEP waveforms might be clinically useful to detect unilateral abnormalities in

Relationship between somatosensory event-related potential N140 aberrations and hemispatial agnosia in patients with stroke: a preliminary study.

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Ueno, Tomoyuki; Hada, Yasushi; Shimizu, Yukiyo; Yamada, Thoru

2018-06-01

The somatosensory event-related potential N140 is thought to be related to selective attention. This study aimed to compare the somatosensory event-related potential N140 in healthy subjects to that in patients with stroke to determine whether N140 and attentiveness are associated in patients with stroke with or without hemispatial agnosia. Normal somatosensory event-related potential N140 values were determined using data from ten healthy subjects. Fifteen patients with stroke were divided into two groups based on the presence of hemispatial neglect. Somatosensory event-related potential N140 components were compared between the two groups. Stimulation of the affected limb in the hemispatial agnosia group resulted in significantly longer N140 latency at the contralateral vs. the ipsilateral electrode. This was the inverse of the relationship observed in normal subjects, with stimulation of the intact side in patients with hemispatial agnosia, and with stimulation of both the intact and affected sides in patients without agnosia. In the hemispatial agnosia group, the peak latency of N140 following stimulation of the affected side was significantly longer than it was following stimulation of the intact side and when compared to that in patients without agnosia. In addition, abnormal N140 peak latencies were observed at the Cz and ipsilateral electrodes in patients with hemispatial agnosia following stimulation of the intact side. These findings suggest that somatosensory event-related potential N140 is independently generated in each hemisphere and may reflect cognitive attention.

Thalamocortical integration of instrumental learning and performance and their disintegration in addiction.

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Balleine, Bernard W; Morris, Richard W; Leung, Beatrice K

2015-12-02

A recent focus of addiction research has been on the effect of drug exposure on the neural processes that mediate the acquisition and performance of goal-directed instrumental actions. Deficits in goal-directed control and a consequent dysregulation of habit learning processes have been described as resulting in compulsive drug seeking. Similarly, considerable research has focussed on the motivational and emotional changes that drugs produce and that result in changes in the incentive processes that modulate goal-directed performance. Although these areas have developed independently, we argue that the effects they described are likely not independent. Here we hypothesize that these changes result from a core deficit in the way the learning and performance factors that support goal-directed action are integrated at a neural level to maintain behavioural control. A dorsal basal ganglia stream mediating goal-directed learning and a ventral stream mediating various performance factors find several points of integration in the cortical basal ganglia system, most notably in the thalamocortical network linking basal ganglia output to a variety of cortical control centres. Recent research in humans and other animals is reviewed suggesting that learning and performance factors are integrated in a network centred on the mediodorsal thalamus and that disintegration in this network may provide the basis for a 'switch' from recreational to dysregulated drug seeking resulting in the well documented changes associated with addiction. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Excessive body fat linked to blunted somatosensory cortex response to general reward in adolescents.

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Navas, J F; Barrós-Loscertales, A; Costumero-Ramos, V; Verdejo-Román, J; Vilar-López, R; Verdejo-García, A

2018-01-01

The brain reward system is key to understanding adolescent obesity in the current obesogenic environment, rich in highly appetising stimuli, to which adolescents are particularly sensitive. We aimed to examine the association between body fat levels and brain reward system responsivity to general (monetary) rewards in male and female adolescents. Sixty-eight adolescents (34 females; mean age (s.d.)= 16.56 (1.35)) were measured for body fat levels with bioelectric impedance, and underwent a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan during the Monetary Incentive Delay (MID) task. The MID task reliably elicits brain activations associated with two fundamental aspects of reward processing: anticipation and feedback. We conducted regression analyses to examine the association between body fat and brain reward system responsivity during reward anticipation and feedback, while controlling for sex, age and socioeconomic status. We also analysed the moderating impact of sex on the relationship between fat levels and brain responsivity measures. Brain imaging analyses were corrected for multiple comparisons, with a cluster-defining threshold of Preward feedback after controlling for key sociodemographic variables. Although we did not find significant associations between body fat and brain activations during reward anticipation, S1/supramarginal gyrus activation during feedback was linked to increased negative prediction error, that is, less reward than expected, in illustrative post hoc analyses. Sex did not significantly moderate the association between body fat and brain activation in the MID task. In adolescents, higher adiposity is linked to hypo-responsivity of somatosensory regions during general (monetary) reward feedback. Findings suggest that adolescents with excess weight have blunted activation in somatosensory regions involved in reward feedback learning.

Effect of extradural morphine on somatosensory evoked potentials to dermatomal stimulation

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Lund, C; Selmar, P; Hansen, O B

1987-01-01

The effect of the extradural (L2-3) administration of morphine 6 mg on early (less than 0.5 s) somatosensory evoked cortical potentials (SEP) to electrical stimulation of the L1- and S1-dermatomes was examined in eight patients. Extradural morphine did not influence SEP amplitude. SEP latency did...

Functional MRI activation of somatosensory and motor cortices in a hand-grafted patient with early clinical sensorimotor recovery

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Neugroschl, C.; Denolin, V.; Schuind, F.; Holder, C. van; David, P.; Baleriaux, D.; Metens, T.

2005-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate somatosensory and motor cortical activity with functional MRI (fMRI) in a hand-grafted patient with early clinical recovery. The patient had motor fMRI examinations before transplantation, and motor and passive tactile stimulations after surgery. His normal hand and a normal group were studied for comparison. A patient with complete brachial plexus palsy was studied to assess the lack of a fMRI signal in somatosensory areas in the case of total axonal disconnection. Stimulating the grafted hand revealed significant activation in the contralateral somatosensory cortical areas in all fMRI examinations. The activation was seen as early as 10 days after surgery; this effect cannot be explained by the known physiological mechanisms of nerve regeneration. Although an imagination effect cannot be excluded, the objective clinical recovery of sensory function led us to formulate the hypothesis that a connection to the somatosensory cortex was rapidly established. Additional cases and fundamental studies are needed to assess this hypothesis, but several observations were compatible with this explanation. Before surgery, imaginary motion of the amputated hand produced less intense responses than executed movements of the intact hand, whereas the normal activation pattern for right-handed subjects was found after surgery, in agreement with the good clinical motor recovery. (orig.)

Predictability of painful stimulation modulates the somatosensory-evoked potential in the rat

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schaap, M.W.H.; van Oostrom, H.; Doornenbal, A.; Baars, A.M.; Arndt, S.S.; Hellebrekers, L.J.

2013-01-01

Abstract Somatosensory-evoked potentials (SEPs) are used in humans and animals to increase knowledge about nociception and pain. Since the SEP in humans increases when noxious stimuli are administered unpredictably, predictability potentially influences the SEP in animals as well. To assess the

Risk factors affecting somatosensory function after sagittal split osteotomy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thygesen, Torben Henrik; Jensen, Allan Bardow; Helleberg, M

2008-01-01

Purpose The aim of this study was to evaluate potential individual and intraoperative risk factors associated with bilateral sagittal split osteotomy (BSSO) and to correlate the findings with postoperative changes in somatosensory function. Patients and Methods A total of 18 men and 29 women (mean...... and free dissection of the inferior alveolar nerve during BSSO increased self-reported changes in lower lip sensation and lower lip tactile threshold after BSSO (P discrimination (P

Evaluation of the synuclein-y (SNCG) gene as a PPARy target in murine adipocytes, dorsal root ganglia somatosensory neurons, and human adipose tissue

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Synuclein-gamma is highly expressed in both adipocytes and peripheral nervous system (PNS) somatosensory neurons. Its mRNA is induced during adipogenesis, increased in obese human white adipose tissue (WAT), may be coordinately regulated with leptin, and is decreased following treatment of murine 3T...

Pathophysiology of somatosensory abnormalities in Parkinson disease.

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Conte, Antonella; Khan, Nashaba; Defazio, Giovanni; Rothwell, John C; Berardelli, Alfredo

2013-12-01

Changes in sensory function that have been described in patients with Parkinson disease (PD) can be either 'pure' disorders of conscious perception such as elevations in sensory threshold, or disorders of sensorimotor integration, in which the interaction between sensory input and motor output is altered. In this article, we review the extensive evidence for disrupted tactile, nociceptive, thermal and proprioceptive sensations in PD, as well as the influences exerted on these sensations by dopaminergic therapy and deep brain stimulation. We argue that abnormal spatial and temporal processing of sensory information produces incorrect signals for the preparation and execution of voluntary movement. Sensory deficits are likely to be a consequence of the dopaminergic denervation of the basal ganglia that is the hallmark of PD. A possible mechanism to account for somatosensory deficits is one in which disease-related dopaminergic denervation leads to a loss of response specificity, resulting in transmission of noisier and less-differentiated information to cortical regions. Changes in pain perception might have a different explanation, possibly involving disease-related effects outside the basal ganglia, including involvement of peripheral pain receptors, as well as structures such as the periaqueductal grey matter and non-dopaminergic neurotransmitter systems.

Laterodorsal nucleus of the thalamus: A processor of somatosensory inputs.

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Bezdudnaya, Tatiana; Keller, Asaf

2008-04-20

The laterodorsal (LD) nucleus of the thalamus has been considered a "higher order" nucleus that provides inputs to limbic cortical areas. Although its functions are largely unknown, it is often considered to be involved in spatial learning and memory. Here we provide evidence that LD is part of a hitherto unknown pathway for processing somatosensory information. Juxtacellular and extracellular recordings from LD neurons reveal that they respond to vibrissa stimulation with short latency (median = 7 ms) and large magnitude responses (median = 1.2 spikes/stimulus). Most neurons (62%) had large receptive fields, responding to six and more individual vibrissae. Electrical stimulation of the trigeminal nucleus interpolaris (SpVi) evoked short latency responses (median = 3.8 ms) in vibrissa-responsive LD neurons. Labeling produced by anterograde and retrograde neuroanatomical tracers confirmed that LD neurons receive direct inputs from SpVi. Electrophysiological and neuroanatomical analyses revealed also that LD projects upon the cingulate and retrosplenial cortex, but has only sparse projections to the barrel cortex. These findings suggest that LD is part of a novel processing stream involved in spatial orientation and learning related to somatosensory cues. (c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Glutamate-Mediated Primary Somatosensory Cortex Excitability Correlated with Circulating Copper and Ceruloplasmin

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Franca Tecchio

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Objective. To verify whether markers of metal homeostasis are related to a magnetoencephalographic index representative of glutamate-mediated excitability of the primary somatosensory cortex. The index is identified as the source strength of the earliest component (M20 of the somatosensory magnetic fields (SEFs evoked by right median nerve stimulation at wrist. Method. Thirty healthy right-handed subjects (51±22 years were enrolled in the study. A source reconstruction algorithm was applied to assess the amount of synchronously activated neurons subtending the M20 and the following SEF component (M30, which is generated by two independent contributions of gabaergic and glutamatergic transmission. Serum copper, ceruloplasmin, iron, transferrin, transferrin saturation, and zinc levels were measured. Results. Total copper and ceruloplasmin negatively correlated with the M20 source strength. Conclusion. This pilot study suggests that higher level of body copper reserve, as marked by ceruloplasmin variations, parallels lower cortical glutamatergic responsiveness.

Differentiated effects of deep brain stimulation and medication on somatosensory processing in Parkinson's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Sridharan, Kousik Sarathy; Højlund, Andreas; Johnsen, Erik Lisbjerg; Sunde, Niels Aagaard; Johansen, Lars Gottfried; Beniczky, Sándor; Østergaard, Karen

2017-07-01

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) and dopaminergic medication effectively alleviate the motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients, but their effects on the sensory symptoms of PD are still not well understood. To explore early somatosensory processing in PD, we recorded magnetoencephalography (MEG) from thirteen DBS-treated PD patients and ten healthy controls during median nerve stimulation. PD patients were measured during DBS-treated, untreated and dopaminergic-medicated states. We focused on early cortical somatosensory processing as indexed by N20m, induced gamma augmentation (31-45Hz and 55-100Hz) and induced beta suppression (13-30Hz). PD patients' motor symptoms were assessed by UPDRS-III. Using Bayesian statistics, we found positive evidence for differentiated effects of treatments on the induced gamma augmentation (31-45Hz) with highest gamma in the dopaminergic-medicated state and lowest in the DBS-treated and untreated states. In contrast, UPDRS-III scores showed beneficial effects of both DBS and dopaminergic medication on the patients' motor symptoms. Furthermore, treatments did not affect the amplitude of N20m. Our results suggest differentiated effects of DBS and dopaminergic medication on cortical somatosensory processing in PD patients despite consistent ameliorating effects of both treatments on PD motor symptoms. The differentiated effect suggests differences in the effect mechanisms of the two treatments. Copyright © 2017 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Seeing is not feeling: posterior parietal but not somatosensory cortex engagement during touch observation.

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Chan, Annie W-Y; Baker, Chris I

2015-01-28

Observing touch has been reported to elicit activation in human primary and secondary somatosensory cortices and is suggested to underlie our ability to interpret other's behavior and potentially empathy. However, despite these reports, there are a large number of inconsistencies in terms of the precise topography of activation, the extent of hemispheric lateralization, and what aspects of the stimulus are necessary to drive responses. To address these issues, we investigated the localization and functional properties of regions responsive to observed touch in a large group of participants (n = 40). Surprisingly, even with a lenient contrast of hand brushing versus brushing alone, we did not find any selective activation for observed touch in the hand regions of somatosensory cortex but rather in superior and inferior portions of neighboring posterior parietal cortex, predominantly in the left hemisphere. These regions in the posterior parietal cortex required the presence of both brush and hand to elicit strong responses and showed some selectivity for the form of the object or agent of touch. Furthermore, the inferior parietal region showed nonspecific tactile and motor responses, suggesting some similarity to area PFG in the monkey. Collectively, our findings challenge the automatic engagement of somatosensory cortex when observing touch, suggest mislocalization in previous studies, and instead highlight the role of posterior parietal cortex. Copyright © 2015 the authors 0270-6474/15/351468-13$15.00/0.

Thalamocortical network activity enables chronic tic detection in humans with Tourette syndrome

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Jonathan B. Shute

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Tourette syndrome (TS is a neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by multiple motor and vocal tics. Deep brain stimulation (DBS is an emerging therapy for severe cases of TS. We studied two patients with TS implanted with bilateral Medtronic Activa PC + S DBS devices, capable of chronic recordings, with depth leads in the thalamic centromedian–parafascicular complex (CM-PF and subdural strips over the precentral gyrus. Low-frequency (1–10 Hz CM-PF activity was observed during tics, as well as modulations in beta rhythms over the motor cortex. Tics were divided into three categories: long complex, complex, and simple. Long complex tics, tics involving multiple body regions and lasting longer than 5 s, were concurrent with a highly detectable thalamocortical signature (average recall [sensitivity] 88.6%, average precision 96.3%. Complex tics were detected with an average recall of 63.9% and precision of 36.6% and simple tics an average recall of 39.3% and precision of 37.9%. The detections were determined using data from both patients.

Thalamocortical network activity enables chronic tic detection in humans with Tourette syndrome.

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Shute, Jonathan B; Okun, Michael S; Opri, Enrico; Molina, Rene; Rossi, P Justin; Martinez-Ramirez, Daniel; Foote, Kelly D; Gunduz, Aysegul

2016-01-01

Tourette syndrome (TS) is a neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by multiple motor and vocal tics. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an emerging therapy for severe cases of TS. We studied two patients with TS implanted with bilateral Medtronic Activa PC + S DBS devices, capable of chronic recordings, with depth leads in the thalamic centromedian-parafascicular complex (CM-PF) and subdural strips over the precentral gyrus. Low-frequency (1-10 Hz) CM-PF activity was observed during tics, as well as modulations in beta rhythms over the motor cortex. Tics were divided into three categories: long complex, complex, and simple. Long complex tics, tics involving multiple body regions and lasting longer than 5 s, were concurrent with a highly detectable thalamocortical signature (average recall [sensitivity] 88.6%, average precision 96.3%). Complex tics were detected with an average recall of 63.9% and precision of 36.6% and simple tics an average recall of 39.3% and precision of 37.9%. The detections were determined using data from both patients.

Acute Appendicitis, Somatosensory Disturbances ("Head Zones"), and the Differential Diagnosis of Anterior Cutaneous Nerve Entrapment Syndrome (ACNES).

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Roumen, Rudi M H; Vening, Wouter; Wouda, Rosanne; Scheltinga, Marc M

2017-06-01

Anterior cutaneous nerve entrapment syndrome (ACNES) is a neuropathic abdominal wall pain syndrome typically characterized by locally altered skin sensations. On the other hand, visceral disease may also be associated with similar painful and altered skin sensations ("Head zones"). Aim of the study was to determine if patients with acute appendicitis demonstrated somatosensory disturbances in the corresponding right lower quadrant Head zone. The presence of somatosensory disturbances such as hyperalgesia, hypoesthesia, altered cool perception, or positive pinch test was determined in 100 patients before and after an appendectomy. Potential associations between altered skin sensations and various items including age, sex, history, body temperature, C-reactive protein (CRP), leukocyte count, and type of appendicopathy (normal, inflamed, necrotic, or perforated) were assessed. A total of 39 patients demonstrated at least one right lower abdominal quadrant skin somatosensory disturbance before the laparoscopic appendectomy. However, locoregional skin sensation normalized in all but 2 patients 2 weeks postoperatively. No differences were found concerning patient characteristics or type of appendicopathy between populations with or without altered lower abdominal skin sensations. A substantial portion of patients with acute appendicitis demonstrate right lower abdominal somatosensory disturbances that are similar as observed in acute ACNES. Both may be different sides of the same coin and are possibly expressions of segmental phenomena as described by Head. McBurney's point, a landmark area of maximum pain in acute appendicitis, is possibly a trigger point within a Head zone. Differentiating acute appendicitis from acute ACNES is extremely difficult, but imaging and observation may aid in the diagnostic process.

Impaired verbal memory in Parkinson disease: relationship to prefrontal dysfunction and somatosensory discrimination

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Weniger Dorothea

2009-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Objective To study the neurocognitive profile and its relationship to prefrontal dysfunction in non-demented Parkinson's disease (PD with deficient haptic perception. Methods Twelve right-handed patients with PD and 12 healthy control subjects underwent thorough neuropsychological testing including Rey complex figure, Rey auditory verbal and figural learning test, figural and verbal fluency, and Stroop test. Test scores reflecting significant differences between patients and healthy subjects were correlated with the individual expression coefficients of one principal component, obtained in a principal component analysis of an oxygen-15-labeled water PET study exploring somatosensory discrimination that differentiated between the two groups and involved prefrontal cortices. Results We found significantly decreased total scores for the verbal learning trials and verbal delayed free recall in PD patients compared with normal volunteers. Further analysis of these parameters using Spearman's ranking correlation showed a significantly negative correlation of deficient verbal recall with expression coefficients of the principal component whose image showed a subcortical-cortical network, including right dorsolateral-prefrontal cortex, in PD patients. Conclusion PD patients with disrupted right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex function and associated diminished somatosensory discrimination are impaired also in verbal memory functions. A negative correlation between delayed verbal free recall and PET activation in a network including the prefrontal cortices suggests that verbal cues and accordingly declarative memory processes may be operative in PD during activities that demand sustained attention such as somatosensory discrimination. Verbal cues may be compensatory in nature and help to non-specifically enhance focused attention in the presence of a functionally disrupted prefrontal cortex.

MEG reveals a fast pathway from somatosensory cortex to occipital areas via posterior parietal cortex in a blind subject.

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Ioannides, Andreas A; Liu, Lichan; Poghosyan, Vahe; Saridis, George A; Gjedde, Albert; Ptito, Maurice; Kupers, Ron

2013-01-01

Cross-modal activity in visual cortex of blind subjects has been reported during performance of variety of non-visual tasks. A key unanswered question is through which pathways non-visual inputs are funneled to the visual cortex. Here we used tomographic analysis of single trial magnetoencephalography (MEG) data recorded from one congenitally blind and two sighted subjects after stimulation of the left and right median nerves at three intensities: below sensory threshold, above sensory threshold and above motor threshold; the last sufficient to produce thumb twitching. We identified reproducible brain responses in the primary somatosensory (S1) and motor (M1) cortices at around 20 ms post-stimulus, which were very similar in sighted and blind subjects. Time-frequency analysis revealed strong 45-70 Hz activity at latencies of 20-50 ms in S1 and M1, and posterior parietal cortex Brodmann areas (BA) 7 and 40, which compared to lower frequencies, were substantially more pronounced in the blind than the sighted subjects. Critically, at frequencies from α-band up to 100 Hz we found clear, strong, and widespread responses in the visual cortex of the blind subject, which increased with the intensity of the somatosensory stimuli. Time-delayed mutual information (MI) revealed that in blind subject the stimulus information is funneled from the early somatosensory to visual cortex through posterior parietal BA 7 and 40, projecting first to visual areas V5 and V3, and eventually V1. The flow of information through this pathway occurred in stages characterized by convergence of activations into specific cortical regions. In sighted subjects, no linked activity was found that led from the somatosensory to the visual cortex through any of the studied brain regions. These results provide the first evidence from MEG that in blind subjects, tactile information is routed from primary somatosensory to occipital cortex via the posterior parietal cortex.

An evaluation of the somatosensory profile of hemiparetic individuals

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R.S. Mota

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to evaluate the somatosensory profile of 18 hemiparetic spastic victims of stroke with and without blocking vision. Maximal isometric contraction test was used for flexor and extensor muscles of the hip and knee, and flexor plantar muscles. The number of cycles per minute on stationary bike was also measured with eyes opened and closed. Significant differences were found suggesting the existence of miscommunication between sensory-motor neural mechanisms responsible for voluntary motor actions in these individuals.

The Role of Attention in Somatosensory Processing: A Multi-Trait, Multi-Method Analysis

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Wodka, Ericka L.; Puts, Nicolaas A. J.; Mahone, E. Mark; Edden, Richard A. E.; Tommerdahl, Mark; Mostofsky, Stewart H.

2016-01-01

Sensory processing abnormalities in autism have largely been described by parent report. This study used a multi-method (parent-report and measurement), multi-trait (tactile sensitivity and attention) design to evaluate somatosensory processing in ASD. Results showed multiple significant within-method (e.g., parent report of different…

Modality-Based Organization of Ascending Somatosensory Axons in the Direct Dorsal Column Pathway

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Niu, Jingwen; Ding, Long; Li, Jian J.; Kim, Hyukmin; Liu, Jiakun; Li, Haipeng; Moberly, Andrew; Badea, Tudor C.; Duncan, Ian D.; Son, Young-Jin; Scherer, Steven S.

2013-01-01

The long-standing doctrine regarding the functional organization of the direct dorsal column (DDC) pathway is the “somatotopic map” model, which suggests that somatosensory afferents are primarily organized by receptive field instead of modality. Using modality-specific genetic tracing, here we show that ascending mechanosensory and proprioceptive axons, two main types of the DDC afferents, are largely segregated into a medial–lateral pattern in the mouse dorsal column and medulla. In addition, we found that this modality-based organization is likely to be conserved in other mammalian species, including human. Furthermore, we identified key morphological differences between these two types of afferents, which explains how modality segregation is formed and why a rough “somatotopic map” was previously detected. Collectively, our results establish a new functional organization model for the mammalian direct dorsal column pathway and provide insight into how somatotopic and modality-based organization coexist in the central somatosensory pathway. PMID:24198362

c-Kit expression in somatosensory nuclei of lower medulla oblongata.

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Pop, Elena; Mărdărescu, Mariana; Lazăr, M; Rusu, M C; Ion, Daniela Adriana

2013-01-01

Protein kinase signal-transduction pathways play critical roles in regulating nociception. The c-kit receptor contributes to pain regulation in the spinal cord and is present on both peripheral and central terminals. Expression of c-kit was demonstrated in human trigeminal and spinal ganglia. However, the brainstem expression of c-kit was overlooked. We aimed to evaluate it by immunohistochemistry, on eight samples of human lower medulla oblongata. We used two clones of CD117/c-kit antibodies, from different manufacturers, and neurofilament antibodies. Positive expression of CD117/c-kit was found within the spinal trigeminal nucleus, the gracilis, cuneate, and lateral cuneate nuclei, and within the olivary complex. CD117/c-kit positive interstitial networks of these nuclei were positively labeled with neurofilaments. CD117/c-kit labeled the olivary neurons, but not the magnocellular neurons of the trigeminal, gracilis and cuneate nuclei. c-kit interstitial systems of brainstem could play so an important role for the functional status along the somatosensory neural circuits.

Auditory-somatosensory bimodal stimulation desynchronizes brain circuitry to reduce tinnitus in guinea pigs and humans.

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Marks, Kendra L; Martel, David T; Wu, Calvin; Basura, Gregory J; Roberts, Larry E; Schvartz-Leyzac, Kara C; Shore, Susan E

2018-01-03

The dorsal cochlear nucleus is the first site of multisensory convergence in mammalian auditory pathways. Principal output neurons, the fusiform cells, integrate auditory nerve inputs from the cochlea with somatosensory inputs from the head and neck. In previous work, we developed a guinea pig model of tinnitus induced by noise exposure and showed that the fusiform cells in these animals exhibited increased spontaneous activity and cross-unit synchrony, which are physiological correlates of tinnitus. We delivered repeated bimodal auditory-somatosensory stimulation to the dorsal cochlear nucleus of guinea pigs with tinnitus, choosing a stimulus interval known to induce long-term depression (LTD). Twenty minutes per day of LTD-inducing bimodal (but not unimodal) stimulation reduced physiological and behavioral evidence of tinnitus in the guinea pigs after 25 days. Next, we applied the same bimodal treatment to 20 human subjects with tinnitus using a double-blinded, sham-controlled, crossover study. Twenty-eight days of LTD-inducing bimodal stimulation reduced tinnitus loudness and intrusiveness. Unimodal auditory stimulation did not deliver either benefit. Bimodal auditory-somatosensory stimulation that induces LTD in the dorsal cochlear nucleus may hold promise for suppressing chronic tinnitus, which reduces quality of life for millions of tinnitus sufferers worldwide. Copyright © 2018 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.

Effects of face/head and whole body cooling during passive heat stress on human somatosensory processing.

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Nakata, Hiroki; Namba, Mari; Kakigi, Ryusuke; Shibasaki, Manabu

2017-06-01

We herein investigated the effects of face/head and whole body cooling during passive heat stress on human somatosensory processing recorded by somatosensory-evoked potentials (SEPs) at C4' and Fz electrodes. Fourteen healthy subjects received a median nerve stimulation at the left wrist. SEPs were recorded at normothermic baseline (Rest), when esophageal temperature had increased by ~1.2°C (heat stress: HS) during passive heating, face/head cooling during passive heating (face/head cooling: FHC), and after HS (whole body cooling: WBC). The latencies and amplitudes of P14, N20, P25, N35, P45, and N60 at C4' and P14, N18, P22, and N30 at Fz were evaluated. Latency indicated speed of the subcortical and cortical somatosensory processing, while amplitude reflected the strength of neural activity. Blood flow in the internal and common carotid arteries (ICA and CCA, respectively) and psychological comfort were recorded in each session. Increases in esophageal temperature due to HS significantly decreased the amplitude of N60, psychological comfort, and ICA blood flow in the HS session, and also shortened the latencies of SEPs (all, P body temperature. Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.

Mapping remodeling of thalamocortical projections in the living reeler mouse brain by diffusion tractography

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Harsan, Laura-Adela; Dávid, Csaba; Reisert, Marco; Schnell, Susanne; Hennig, Jürgen; von Elverfeldt, Dominik; Staiger, Jochen F.

2013-01-01

A major challenge in neuroscience is to accurately decipher in vivo the entire brain circuitry (connectome) at a microscopic level. Currently, the only methodology providing a global noninvasive window into structural brain connectivity is diffusion tractography. The extent to which the reconstructed pathways reflect realistic neuronal networks depends, however, on data acquisition and postprocessing factors. Through a unique combination of approaches, we designed and evaluated herein a framework for reliable fiber tracking and mapping of the living mouse brain connectome. One important wiring scheme, connecting gray matter regions and passing fiber-crossing areas, was closely examined: the lemniscal thalamocortical (TC) pathway. We quantitatively validated the TC projections inferred from in vivo tractography with correlative histological axonal tracing in the same wild-type and reeler mutant mice. We demonstrated noninvasively that changes in patterning of the cortical sheet, such as highly disorganized cortical lamination in reeler, led to spectacular compensatory remodeling of the TC pathway. PMID:23610438

Abnormal thalamocortical activity in patients with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) type I.

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Walton, K D; Dubois, M; Llinás, R R

2010-07-01

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) is a neuropathic disease that presents a continuing challenge in terms of pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment. Recent studies of neuropathic pain, in both animals and patients, have established a direct relationship between abnormal thalamic rhythmicity related to Thalamo-cortical Dysrhythmia (TCD) and the occurrence of central pain. Here, this relationship has been examined using magneto-encephalographic (MEG) imaging in CRPS Type I, characterized by the absence of nerve lesions. The study addresses spontaneous MEG activity from 13 awake, adult patients (2 men, 11 women; age 15-62), with CRPS Type I of one extremity (duration range: 3months to 10years) and from 13 control subjects. All CRPS I patients demonstrated peaks in power spectrum in the delta (CRPS Type I patients presented abnormal brain activity typical of TCD, which has both diagnostic value indicating a central origin for this ailment and a potential treatment interest involving pharmacological and electrical stimulation therapies. Copyright 2010 International Association for the Study of Pain. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of surgery on sensory threshold and somatosensory evoked potentials after skin stimulation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lund, C; Hansen, O B; Kehlet, H

1990-01-01

We have studied the effect of surgical injury on cutaneous sensitivity and somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP) to dermatomal electrical stimulation in 10 patients undergoing hysterectomy. Forty-eight hours after surgery, sensory threshold increased from 2.2 (SEM 0.3) mA to 4.4 (1.1) mA (P less...

[The role of the cervical spine and the craniomandibular system in the pathogenesis of tinnitus. Somatosensory tinnitus].

Science.gov (United States)

Biesinger, E; Reisshauer, A; Mazurek, B

2008-07-01

The causes of tinnitus, vertigo, and hearing disturbances may be pathological processes in the cervical spine and temporomaxillary joint. In these cases, tinnitus is called somatosensory tinnitus (SST). For afferences of the cervical spine, projections of neuronal connections in the cochlear nucleus were found. A reflex-like impact of the cervical spine on the cochlear nucleus can be assumed. The tinnitus treatment concept of the Charité University Hospital in Berlin involves the cooperation of ENT specialists with many other disciplines in an outpatient clinic. A standardized examination protocol has been established, and physical therapy has been integrated into the interdisciplinary tinnitus treatment. For tinnitus-modulating therapy of muscular trigger points, local anesthetics as well as self-massage or treatment by a physiotherapist or osteopath are useful.

Encoding of Touch Intensity But Not Pleasantness in Human Primary Somatosensory Cortex

Science.gov (United States)

Laubacher, Claire M.; Olausson, Håkan; Wang, Binquan; Spagnolo, Primavera A.; Bushnell, M. Catherine

2016-01-01

Growing interest in affective touch has delineated a neural network that bypasses primary somatosensory cortex (S1). Several recent studies, however, have cast doubt on the segregation of touch discrimination and affect, suggesting that S1 also encodes affective qualities. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to examine the role of S1 in processing touch intensity and pleasantness. Twenty-six healthy human adults rated brushing on the hand during fMRI. Intensity ratings significantly predicted activation in S1, whereas pleasantness ratings predicted activation only in the anterior cingulate cortex. Nineteen subjects also received inhibitory rTMS over right hemisphere S1 and the vertex (control). After S1 rTMS, but not after vertex rTMS, sensory discrimination was reduced and subjects with reduced sensory discrimination rated touch as more intense. In contrast, rTMS did not alter ratings of touch pleasantness. Our findings support divergent neural processing of touch intensity and pleasantness, with affective touch encoded outside of S1. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Growing interest in affective touch has identified a neural network that bypasses primary somatosensory cortex (S1). Several recent studies, however, cast doubt on the separation of touch discrimination and affect. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation to demonstrate the representation of touch discrimination and intensity in S1, but the representation of pleasantness in the anterior cingulate cortex, not S1. Our findings support divergent neural processing of touch intensity and pleasantness, with affective touch encoded outside of S1. Our study contributes to growing delineation of the affective touch system, a crucial step in understanding its dysregulation in numerous clinical conditions such as autism, eating disorders, depression, and chronic pain. PMID:27225773

MEG reveals a fast pathway from somatosensory cortex to occipital areas via posterior parietal cortex in a blind subject

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andreas A Ioannides

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Cross-modal activity in visual cortex of blind subjects has been reported during performance of variety of non-visual tasks. A key unanswered question is through which pathways non-visual inputs are funneled to the visual cortex. Here we used tomographic analysis of single trial magnetoencephalography (MEG data recorded from one congenitally blind and two sighted subjects after stimulation of the left and right median nerves at three intensities: below sensory threshold, above sensory threshold and above motor threshold; the last sufficient to produce thumb twitching. We identified reproducible brain responses in the primary somatosensory (S1 and motor (M1 cortices at around 20 ms post-stimulus, which were very similar in sighted and blind subjects. Time-frequency analysis revealed strong 45 to 70 Hz activity at latencies of 20 to 50 ms in S1 and M1, and posterior parietal cortex Brodmann areas (BA 7 and 40, which compared to lower frequencies, were substantially more pronounced in the blind than the sighted subjects. Critically, at frequencies from α-band up to 100 Hz we found clear, strong and widespread responses in the visual cortex of the blind subject, which increased with the intensity of the somatosensory stimuli. Time-delayed mutual information (MI revealed that in blind subject the stimulus information is funneled from the early somatosensory to visual cortex through posterior parietal BA 7 and 40, projecting first to visual areas V5 and V3, and eventually V1. The flow of information through this pathway occured in stages characterized by convergence of activations into specific cortical regions. In sighted subjects, no linked activity was found that led from the somatosensory to the visual cortex through any of the studied brain regions. These results provide the first evidence from MEG that in blind subjects, tactile information is routed from primary somatosensory to occipital cortex via the posterior parietal cortex.

The third-stimulus temporal discrimination threshold: focusing on the temporal processing of sensory input within primary somatosensory cortex.

Science.gov (United States)

Leodori, Giorgio; Formica, Alessandra; Zhu, Xiaoying; Conte, Antonella; Belvisi, Daniele; Cruccu, Giorgio; Hallett, Mark; Berardelli, Alfredo

2017-10-01

The somatosensory temporal discrimination threshold (STDT) has been used in recent years to investigate time processing of sensory information, but little is known about the physiological correlates of somatosensory temporal discrimination. The objective of this study was to investigate whether the time interval required to discriminate between two stimuli varies according to the number of stimuli in the task. We used the third-stimulus temporal discrimination threshold (ThirdDT), defined as the shortest time interval at which an individual distinguishes a third stimulus following a pair of stimuli delivered at the STDT. The STDT and ThirdDT were assessed in 31 healthy subjects. In a subgroup of 10 subjects, we evaluated the effects of the stimuli intensity on the ThirdDT. In a subgroup of 16 subjects, we evaluated the effects of S1 continuous theta-burst stimulation (S1-cTBS) on the STDT and ThirdDT. Results show that ThirdDT is shorter than STDT. We found a positive correlation between STDT and ThirdDT values. As long as the stimulus intensity was within the perceivable and painless range, it did not affect ThirdDT values. S1-cTBS significantly affected both STDT and ThirdDT, although the latter was affected to a greater extent and for a longer period of time. We conclude that the interval needed to discriminate between time-separated tactile stimuli is related to the number of stimuli used in the task. STDT and ThirdDT are encoded in S1, probably by a shared tactile temporal encoding mechanism whose performance rapidly changes during the perception process. ThirdDT is a new method to measure somatosensory temporal discrimination. NEW & NOTEWORTHY To investigate whether the time interval required to discriminate between stimuli varies according to changes in the stimulation pattern, we used the third-stimulus temporal discrimination threshold (ThirdDT). We found that the somatosensory temporal discrimination acuity varies according to the number of stimuli in the

Prefrontal cortex and somatosensory cortex in tactile crossmodal association: an independent component analysis of ERP recordings.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yixuan Ku

2007-08-01

Full Text Available Our previous studies on scalp-recorded event-related potentials (ERPs showed that somatosensory N140 evoked by a tactile vibration in working memory tasks was enhanced when human subjects expected a coming visual stimulus that had been paired with the tactile stimulus. The results suggested that such enhancement represented the cortical activities involved in tactile-visual crossmodal association. In the present study, we further hypothesized that the enhancement represented the neural activities in somatosensory and frontal cortices in the crossmodal association. By applying independent component analysis (ICA to the ERP data, we found independent components (ICs located in the medial prefrontal cortex (around the anterior cingulate cortex, ACC and the primary somatosensory cortex (SI. The activity represented by the IC in SI cortex showed enhancement in expectation of the visual stimulus. Such differential activity thus suggested the participation of SI cortex in the task-related crossmodal association. Further, the coherence analysis and the Granger causality spectral analysis of the ICs showed that SI cortex appeared to cooperate with ACC in attention and perception of the tactile stimulus in crossmodal association. The results of our study support with new evidence an important idea in cortical neurophysiology: higher cognitive operations develop from the modality-specific sensory cortices (in the present study, SI cortex that are involved in sensation and perception of various stimuli.

The influence of vibrissal somatosensory processing in rat superior colliculus on prey capture.

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Favaro, P D N; Gouvêa, T S; de Oliveira, S R; Vautrelle, N; Redgrave, P; Comoli, E

2011-03-10

The lateral part of intermediate layer of superior colliculus (SCl) is a critical substrate for successful predation by rats. Hunting-evoked expression of the activity marker Fos is concentrated in SCl while prey capture in rats with NMDA lesions in SCl is impaired. Particularly affected are rapid orienting and stereotyped sequences of actions associated with predation of fast moving prey. Such deficits are consistent with the view that the deep layers of SC are important for sensory guidance of movement. Although much of the relevant evidence involves visual control of movement, less is known about movement guidance by somatosensory input from vibrissae. Indeed, our impression is that prey contact with whiskers is a likely stimulus to trigger predation. Moreover, SCl receives whisker and orofacial somatosensory information directly from trigeminal complex, and indirectly from zona incerta, parvicelular reticular formation and somatosensory barrel cortex. To better understand sensory guidance of predation by vibrissal information we investigated prey capture by rats after whisker removal and the role of superior colliculus (SC) by comparing Fos expression after hunting with and without whiskers. Rats were allowed to hunt cockroaches, after which their whiskers were removed. Two days later they were allowed to hunt cockroaches again. Without whiskers the rats were less able to retain the cockroaches after capture and less able to pursue them in the event of the cockroach escaping. The predatory behaviour of rats with re-grown whiskers returned to normal. In parallel, Fos expression in SCl induced by predation was significantly reduced in whiskerless animals. We conclude that whiskers contribute to the efficiency of rat prey capture and that the loss of vibrissal input to SCl, as reflected by reduced Fos expression, could play a critical role in predatory deficits of whiskerless rats. Copyright © 2011 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Direct and crossed effects of somatosensory stimulation on neuronal excitability and motor performance in humans

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Veldman, M. P.; Maffiuletti, N. A.; Hallett, M.; Zijdewind, I.; Hortobagyi, T.

2014-01-01

This analytic review reports how prolonged periods of somatosensory electric stimulation (SES) with repetitive transcutaneous nerve stimulation can have 'direct' and 'crossed' effects on brain activation, corticospinal excitability, and motor performance. A review of 26 studies involving 315 healthy

Psychotherapy With Somatosensory Stimulation for Endometriosis-Associated Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Meissner, Karin; Schweizer-Arau, Annemarie; Limmer, Anna; Preibisch, Christine; Popovici, Roxana M; Lange, Isabel; de Oriol, Barbara; Beissner, Florian

2016-11-01

To evaluate whether psychotherapy with somatosensory stimulation is effective for the treatment of pain and quality of life in patients with endometriosis-related pain. Patients with a history of endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain were randomized to either psychotherapy with somatosensory stimulation (ie, different techniques of acupuncture point stimulation) or wait-list control for 3 months, after which all patients were treated. The primary outcome was brain connectivity assessed by functional magnetic resonance imaging. Prespecified secondary outcomes included pain on 11-point numeric rating scales (maximal and average global pain, pelvic pain, dyschezia, and dyspareunia) and physical and mental quality of life. A sample size of 30 per group was planned to compare outcomes in the treatment group and the wait-list control group. From March 2010 through March 2012, 67 women (mean age 35.6 years) were randomly allocated to intervention (n=35) or wait-list control (n=32). In comparison with wait-list controls, treated patients showed improvements after 3 months in maximal global pain (mean group difference -2.1, 95% confidence interval [CI] -3.4 to -0.8; P=.002), average global pain (-2.5, 95% CI -3.5 to -1.4; P<.001), pelvic pain (-1.4, 95% CI -2.7 to -0.1; P=.036), dyschezia (-3.5, 95% CI -5.8 to -1.3; P=.003), physical quality of life (3.8, 95% CI 0.5-7.1, P=.026), and mental quality of life (5.9, 95% CI 0.6-11.3; P=.031); dyspareunia improved nonsignificantly (-1.8, 95% CI -4.4 to 0.7; P=.150). Improvements in the intervention group remained stable at 6 and 24 months, and control patients showed comparable symptom relief after delayed intervention. Psychotherapy with somatosensory stimulation reduced global pain, pelvic pain, and dyschezia and improved quality of life in patients with endometriosis. After 6 and 24 months, when all patients were treated, both groups showed stable improvements. ClinicalTrials.gov, https://clinicaltrials.gov, NCT01321840.

Cytoarchitecture and cortical connections of the posterior cingulate and adjacent somatosensory fields in the rhesus monkey.

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Morecraft, R J; Cipolloni, P B; Stilwell-Morecraft, K S; Gedney, M T; Pandya, D N

2004-01-26

The cytoarchitecture and connections of the caudal cingulate and medial somatosensory areas were investigated in the rhesus monkey. There is a stepwise laminar differentiation starting from retrosplenial area 30 towards the isocortical regions of the medial parietal cortex. This includes a gradational emphasis on supragranular laminar organization and general reduction of the infragranular neurons as one proceeds from area 30 toward the medial parietal regions, including areas 3, 1, 2, 5, 31, and the supplementary sensory area (SSA). This trend includes a progressive increase in layer IV neurons. Area 23c in the lower bank and transitional somatosensory area (TSA) in the upper bank of the cingulate sulcus appear as nodal points. From area 23c and TSA the architectonic progression can be traced in three directions: one culminates in areas 3a and 3b (core line), the second in areas 1, 2, and 5 (belt line), and the third in areas 31 and SSA (root line). These architectonic gradients are reflected in the connections of these regions. Thus, cingulate areas (30, 23a, and 23b) are connected with area 23c and TSA on the one hand and have widespread connections with parieto-temporal, frontal, and parahippocampal (limbic) regions on the other. Area 23c has connections with areas 30, 23a and b, and TSA as well as with medial somatosensory areas 3, 1, 2, 5, and SSA. Area 23c also has connections with parietotemporal, frontal, and limbic areas similar to areas 30, 23a, and 23b. Area TSA, like area 23c, has connections with areas 3, 1, 2, 5, and SSA. However, it has only limited connections with the parietotemporal and frontal regions and none with the parahippocampal gyrus. Medial area 3 is mainly connected to medial and dorsal sensory areas 3, 1, 2, 5, and SSA and to areas 4 and 6 as well as to supplementary (M2 or area 6m), rostral cingulate (M3 or areas 24c and d), and caudal cingulate (M4 or areas 23c and d) motor cortices. Thus, in parallel with the architectonic gradient

Functional response of cerebral blood flow induced by somatosensory stimulation in rats with subarachnoid hemorrhage

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Li, Zhiguo; Huang, Qin; Liu, Peng; Li, Pengcheng; Ma, Lianting; Lu, Jinling

2015-09-01

Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is often accompanied by cerebral vasospasm (CVS), which is the phenomenon of narrowing of large cerebral arteries, and then can produce delayed ischemic neurological deficit (DIND) such as lateralized sensory dysfunction. CVS was regarded as a major contributor to DIND in patients with SAH. However, therapy for preventing vasospasm after SAH to improve the outcomes may not work all the time. It is important to find answers to the relationship between CVS and DIND after SAH. How local cerebral blood flow (CBF) is regulated during functional activation after SAH still remains poorly understood, whereas, the regulation of CBF may play an important role in weakening the impact of CVS on cortex function. Therefore, it is worthwhile to evaluate the functional response of CBF in the activated cortex in an SAH animal model. Most evaluation of the effect of SAH is presently carried out by neurological behavioral scales. The functional imaging of cortical activation during sensory stimulation may help to reflect the function of the somatosensory cortex more locally than the behavioral scales do. We investigated the functional response of CBF in the somatosensory cortex induced by an electrical stimulation to contralateral forepaw via laser speckle imaging in a rat SAH model. Nineteen Sprague-Dawley rats from two groups (control group, n=10 and SAH group, n=9) were studied. SAH was induced in rats by double injection of autologous blood into the cisterna magna after CSF aspiration. The same surgical procedure was applied in the control group without CSF aspiration or blood injection. Significant CVS was found in the SAH group. Meanwhile, we observed a delayed peak of CBF response in rats with SAH compared with those in the control group, whereas no significant difference was found in magnitude, duration, and areas under curve of relative CBF changes between the two groups. The results suggest that the regulation function of local CBF during

Tibial nerve somatosensory evoked potentials in dogs with degenerative lumbosacral stenosis.

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Meij, Björn P; Suwankong, Niyada; van den Brom, Walter E; Venker-van Haagen, Anjop J; Hazewinkel, Herman A W

2006-02-01

To determine somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) in dogs with degenerative lumbosacral stenosis (DLS) and in healthy dogs. Clinical and experimental study. Dogs with DLS (n = 21) and 11 clinically normal dogs, age, and weight matched. Under anesthesia, the tibial nerve was stimulated at the caudolateral aspect of the stifle, and lumbar SEP (LSEP) were recorded percutaneously from S1 to T13 at each interspinous space. Cortical SEP (CSEP) were recorded from the scalp. LSEP were identified as the N1-P1 (latency 3-6 ms) and N2-P2 (latency 7-13 ms) wave complexes in the recordings of dogs with DLS and control dogs. Latency of N1-P1 increased and that of N2-P2 decreased as the active recording electrode was moved cranially from S1 to T13. Compared with controls, latencies were significantly delayed in DLS dogs: .8 ms for N1-P1 and 1.7 ms for the N2-P2 complex. CSEP were not different between groups. Surface needle recording of tibial nerve SEP can be used to monitor somatosensory nerve function of pelvic limbs in dogs. In dogs with DLS, the latency of LSEP, but not of CSEP, is prolonged compared with normal dogs. In dogs with lumbosacral pain from DLS, the cauda equina compression is sufficient to affect LSEP at the lumbar level.

Sub-threshold cross-modal sensory interaction in the thalamus: lemniscal auditory response in the medial geniculate nucleus is modulated by somatosensory stimulation.

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Donishi, T; Kimura, A; Imbe, H; Yokoi, I; Kaneoke, Y

2011-02-03

Recent studies have highlighted cross-modal sensory modulations in the primary sensory areas in the cortex, suggesting that cross-modal sensory interactions occur at early stages in the hierarchy of sensory processing. Multi-modal sensory inputs from non-lemniscal thalamic nuclei and cortical inputs from the secondary sensory and association areas are considered responsible for the modulations. On the other hand, there is little evidence of cross-sensory modal sensitivities in lemniscal thalamic nuclei. In the present study, we were interested in a possibility that somatosensory stimulation may affect auditory response in the ventral division (MGV) of the medial geniculate nucleus (MG), a lemniscal thalamic nucleus that is considered to be dedicated to auditory uni-modal processing. Experiments were performed on anesthetized rats. Transcutaneous electrical stimulation of the hindpaw, which is thought to evoke nociception and seems unrelated to auditory processing, modulated unit discharges in response to auditory stimulation (noise bursts). The modulation was observed in the MGV and non-lemniscal auditory thalamic nuclei such as the dorsal and medial divisions of the MG. The major effect of somatosensory stimulation was suppression. The most robust suppression was induced by electrical stimuli given simultaneously with noise bursts or preceding noise bursts by 10 to 20 ms. The results indicate that the lemniscal (MGV) and non-lemniscal auditory nuclei are subject to somatosensory influence. In everyday experience intense somatosensory stimuli such as pain interrupt our ongoing hearing or interfere with clear recognition of sound. The modulation of lemniscal auditory response by somatosensory stimulation may underlie such cross-modal disturbance of auditory perception as a form of cross-modal switching of attention. Copyright © 2011 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Exposure to Music and Noise During Pregnancy Influences Neurogenesis and Thickness in Motor and Somatosensory Cortex of Rat Pups

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Chang-Hee Kim

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Purpose Prenatal environmental conditions affect the development of the fetus. In the present study, we investigated the effects of exposure to music and noise during pregnancy on neurogenesis and thickness in the motor and somatosensory cortex of rat pups. Methods The pregnant rats in the music-applied group were exposed to 65 dB of comfortable music for 1 hour, once per day, from the 15th day of pregnancy until delivery. The pregnant rats in the noise-applied group were exposed to 95 dB of sound from a supersonic sound machine for 1 hour, once per day, from the 15th day of pregnancy until delivery. After birth, the offspring were left undisturbed together with their mother. The rat pups were sacrificed at 21 days after birth. Results Exposure to music during pregnancy increased neurogenesis in the motor and somatosensory cortex of rat pups. In contrast, rat pups exposed to noise during pregnancy showed decreased neurogenesis and thickness in the motor and somatosensory cortex. Conclusions Our study suggests that music and noise during the developmental period are important factors influencing brain development and urogenital disorders.

Presurgical motor, somatosensory and language fMRI: Technical feasibility and limitations in 491 patients over 13 years

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tyndall, Anthony J.; Reinhardt, Julia; Stippich, Christoph; Tronnier, Volker; Mariani, Luigi

2017-01-01

To analyse the long-term feasibility and limitations of presurgical fMRI in a cohort of tumour and epilepsy patients with different MR-scanners at 1.5 and 3.0 T. Four hundred and ninety-one consecutive patients undergoing presurgical fMRI between 2000 and 2012 on five different MR-scanners using established paradigms and semi-automated data processing were included. Success rates of task performance and BOLD-activation were determined for motor and somatosensory somatotopic mapping and language localisation. Procedural success, failures and imaging artifacts were analysed. MR-field strengths were compared. Two thousand three hundred fifteen of 2348 (98.6 %) attempted paradigms (1033 motor, 1220 speech, 95 somatosensory) were successfully performed. 100 paradigms (4.3 %) were repetition runs. 23 speech, 6 motor and 2 sensory paradigms failed for non-compliance and technical issues. Most language paradigm failures were noted in overt sentence generation. Average significant BOLD-activation was higher for motor than language paradigms (95.8 vs. 81.6 %). Most language paradigms showed significantly higher activation rates at 3 T compared to 1.5 T, whereas no significant difference was found for motor paradigms. fMRI proved very robust for the presurgical localisation of the different motor and somatosensory body representations, as well as Broca's and Wernicke's language areas across different MR-scanners at 1.5 and 3.0 T over 13 years. (orig.)

Presurgical motor, somatosensory and language fMRI: Technical feasibility and limitations in 491 patients over 13 years

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Tyndall, Anthony J.; Reinhardt, Julia; Stippich, Christoph [University Hospital Basel, Division of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, Basel (Switzerland); Tronnier, Volker [University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Luebeck Campus, Department of Neurosurgery, Luebeck (Germany); Mariani, Luigi [University Hospitals Basel, Department of Neurosurgery, Basel (Switzerland)

2017-01-15

To analyse the long-term feasibility and limitations of presurgical fMRI in a cohort of tumour and epilepsy patients with different MR-scanners at 1.5 and 3.0 T. Four hundred and ninety-one consecutive patients undergoing presurgical fMRI between 2000 and 2012 on five different MR-scanners using established paradigms and semi-automated data processing were included. Success rates of task performance and BOLD-activation were determined for motor and somatosensory somatotopic mapping and language localisation. Procedural success, failures and imaging artifacts were analysed. MR-field strengths were compared. Two thousand three hundred fifteen of 2348 (98.6 %) attempted paradigms (1033 motor, 1220 speech, 95 somatosensory) were successfully performed. 100 paradigms (4.3 %) were repetition runs. 23 speech, 6 motor and 2 sensory paradigms failed for non-compliance and technical issues. Most language paradigm failures were noted in overt sentence generation. Average significant BOLD-activation was higher for motor than language paradigms (95.8 vs. 81.6 %). Most language paradigms showed significantly higher activation rates at 3 T compared to 1.5 T, whereas no significant difference was found for motor paradigms. fMRI proved very robust for the presurgical localisation of the different motor and somatosensory body representations, as well as Broca's and Wernicke's language areas across different MR-scanners at 1.5 and 3.0 T over 13 years. (orig.)

Immediate effects of somatosensory stimulation on hand function in patients with poststroke hemiparesis: a randomized cross-over trial.

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Sim, Sun-Mi; Oh, Duck-Won; Chon, Seung-chul

2015-12-01

This study aimed to determine the immediate effects of somatosensory stimulation on hand function in patients with poststroke hemiparesis. Eleven patients with poststroke hemiparesis participated in this study. Four types (no stimulation, vibration, and light and rough touches) of somatosensory stimulation were performed randomly for 4 days applying only one type of somatosensory stimulation each day. The box and block test (BBT), the Jebsen-Taylor hand function test (JTHFT), hand grip strength (HGS), and movement distance and peak velocity of the wrist joint during a forward-reaching task were measured. The BBT and JTHFT scores for no stimulation [BBT: median (interquartile range), 0.00 (-1.00 to 1.00) and JTHFT: 2.57 (-0.47 to 4.92)] were significantly different from those for vibration [BBT: 3.00 (2.00-5.00) and JTHFT: -16.02 (-23.06 to -4.31)], light touch [BBT: 3.00 (1.00-4.00) and JTHFT: -5.00 (-21.20 to -0.94)], and rough touch [BBT: 2.00 (1.00-4.00) and JTHFT: -6.19 (-18.22 to -3.70)]. The JTHFT score was significantly higher for vibration than that for rough touch (Phemiparesis, with more favorable effects observed in vibration stimulation.

Imaging the spatio-temporal dynamics of supragranular activity in the rat somatosensory cortex in response to stimulation of the paws.

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M L Morales-Botello

Full Text Available We employed voltage-sensitive dye (VSD imaging to investigate the spatio-temporal dynamics of the responses of the supragranular somatosensory cortex to stimulation of the four paws in urethane-anesthetized rats. We obtained the following main results. (1 Stimulation of the contralateral forepaw evoked VSD responses with greater amplitude and smaller latency than stimulation of the contralateral hindpaw, and ipsilateral VSD responses had a lower amplitude and greater latency than contralateral responses. (2 While the contralateral stimulation initially activated only one focus, the ipsilateral stimulation initially activated two foci: one focus was typically medial to the focus activated by contralateral stimulation and was stereotaxically localized in the motor cortex; the other focus was typically posterior to the focus activated by contralateral stimulation and was stereotaxically localized in the somatosensory cortex. (3 Forepaw and hindpaw somatosensory stimuli activated large areas of the sensorimotor cortex, well beyond the forepaw and hindpaw somatosensory areas of classical somatotopic maps, and forepaw stimuli activated larger cortical areas with greater activation velocity than hindpaw stimuli. (4 Stimulation of the forepaw and hindpaw evoked different cortical activation dynamics: forepaw responses displayed a clear medial directionality, whereas hindpaw responses were much more uniform in all directions. In conclusion, this work offers a complete spatio-temporal map of the supragranular VSD cortical activation in response to stimulation of the paws, showing important somatotopic differences between contralateral and ipsilateral maps as well as differences in the spatio-temporal activation dynamics in response to forepaw and hindpaw stimuli.

Electrical somatosensory stimulation followed by motor training of the paretic upper limb in acute stroke

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ghaziani, Emma; Couppé, Christian; Henkel, Cecilie

2017-01-01

functioning is most pronounced during the first 4 weeks post stroke, there are few studies investigating the effect of rehabilitation during this critical time window. The purpose of this trial is to determine the effect of electrical somatosensory stimulation (ESS) initiated in the acute stroke phase...

Atrophy and Primary Somatosensory Cortical Reorganization after Unilateral Thoracic Spinal Cord Injury: A Longitudinal Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

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Jia-Sheng Rao

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The effects of traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI on the changes in the central nervous system (CNS over time may depend on the dynamic interaction between the structural integrity of the spinal cord and the capacity of the brain plasticity. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI was used in a longitudinal study on five rhesus monkeys to observe cerebral activation during upper limb somatosensory tasks in healthy animals and after unilateral thoracic SCI. The changes in the spinal cord diameters were measured, and the correlations among time after the lesion, structural changes in the spinal cord, and primary somatosensory cortex (S1 reorganization were also determined. After SCI, activation of the upper limb in S1 shifted to the region which generally dominates the lower limb, and the rostral spinal cord transverse diameter adjacent to the lesion exhibited obvious atrophy, which reflects the SCI-induced changes in the CNS. A significant correlation was found among the time after the lesion, the spinal cord atrophy, and the degree of contralateral S1 reorganization. The results indicate the structural changes in the spinal cord and the dynamic reorganization of the cerebral activation following early SCI stage, which may help to further understand the neural plasticity in the CNS.

Motor and somatosensory conversion disorder: a functional unawareness syndrome?

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Perez, David L; Barsky, Arthur J; Daffner, Kirk; Silbersweig, David A

2012-01-01

Although conversion disorder is closely connected to the origins of neurology and psychiatry, it remains poorly understood. In this article, the authors discuss neural and clinical parallels between lesional unawareness disorders and unilateral motor and somatosensory conversion disorder, emphasizing functional neuroimaging/disease correlates. Authors suggest that a functional-unawareness neurobiological framework, mediated by right hemisphere-lateralized, large-scale brain network dysfunction, may play a significant role in the neurobiology of conversion disorder. The perigenual anterior cingulate and the posterior parietal cortices are detailed as important in disease pathophysiology. Further investigations will refine the functional-unawareness concept, clarify the role of affective circuits, and delineate the process through which functional neurologic symptoms emerge.

BOLD responses in somatosensory cortices better reflect heat sensation than pain.

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Moulton, Eric A; Pendse, Gautam; Becerra, Lino R; Borsook, David

2012-04-25

The discovery of cortical networks that participate in pain processing has led to the common generalization that blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) responses in these areas indicate the processing of pain. Physical stimuli have fundamental properties that elicit sensations distinguishable from pain, such as heat. We hypothesized that pain intensity coding may reflect the intensity coding of heat sensation during the presentation of thermal stimuli during fMRI. Six 3T fMRI heat scans were collected for 16 healthy subjects, corresponding to perceptual levels of "low innocuous heat," "moderate innocuous heat," "high innocuous heat," "low painful heat," "moderate painful heat," and "high painful heat" delivered by a contact thermode to the face. Subjects rated pain and heat intensity separately after each scan. A general linear model analysis detected different patterns of brain activation for the different phases of the biphasic response to heat. During high painful heat, the early phase was associated with significant anterior insula and anterior cingulate cortex activation. Persistent responses were detected in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and inferior parietal lobule. Only the late phase showed significant correlations with perceptual ratings. Significant heat intensity correlated activation was identified in contralateral primary and secondary somatosensory cortices, motor cortex, and superior temporal lobe. These areas were significantly more related to heat ratings than pain. These results indicate that heat intensity is encoded by the somatosensory cortices, and that pain evaluation may either arise from multimodal evaluative processes, or is a distributed process.

From acute to persistent low back pain: a longitudinal investigation of somatosensory changes using quantitative sensory testing—an exploratory study

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Marcuzzi, Anna; Wrigley, Paul J.; Dean, Catherine M.; Graham, Petra L.; Hush, Julia M.

2018-01-01

Abstract Introduction: Chronic low back pain (LBP) is commonly associated with generalised pain hypersensitivity. It is suggested that such somatosensory alterations are important determinants for the transition to persistent pain from an acute episode of LBP. Although cross-sectional research investigating somatosensory function in the acute stage is developing, no longitudinal studies designed to evaluate temporal changes have been published. Objectives: This exploratory study aimed to investigate the temporal development of somatosensory changes from the acute stage of LBP to up to 4 months from onset. Methods: Twenty-five people with acute LBP (pain-free controls were prospectively assessed at baseline using quantitative sensory testing with the assessor blinded to group allocation, and again at 2 and 4 months. Psychological variables were concurrently assessed. People with acute LBP were classified based on their average pain severity over the previous week at 4 months as recovered (≤1/10 numeric rating scale) or persistent (≥2/10 numeric rating scale) LBP. Results: In the persistent LBP group, (1) there was a significant decrease in pressure pain threshold between 2 and 4 months (P pain threshold was significantly different from the recovered LBP group (P pain-free control reference value. Pain-related psychological variables were significantly higher in those with persistent LBP compared with the recovered LBP group at all time points (P pain sensitivity occurring in the subacute stage warrant further longitudinal evaluation to better understand the role of somatosensory changes in the development of persistent LBP. Pain-related cognitions at baseline distinguished persistent from the recovered LBP groups, emphasizing the importance of concurrent evaluation of psychological contributors in acute LBP. PMID:29756087

From acute to persistent low back pain: a longitudinal investigation of somatosensory changes using quantitative sensory testing-an exploratory study.

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Marcuzzi, Anna; Wrigley, Paul J; Dean, Catherine M; Graham, Petra L; Hush, Julia M

2018-03-01

Chronic low back pain (LBP) is commonly associated with generalised pain hypersensitivity. It is suggested that such somatosensory alterations are important determinants for the transition to persistent pain from an acute episode of LBP. Although cross-sectional research investigating somatosensory function in the acute stage is developing, no longitudinal studies designed to evaluate temporal changes have been published. This exploratory study aimed to investigate the temporal development of somatosensory changes from the acute stage of LBP to up to 4 months from onset. Twenty-five people with acute LBP (testing with the assessor blinded to group allocation, and again at 2 and 4 months. Psychological variables were concurrently assessed. People with acute LBP were classified based on their average pain severity over the previous week at 4 months as recovered (≤1/10 numeric rating scale) or persistent (≥2/10 numeric rating scale) LBP. In the persistent LBP group, (1) there was a significant decrease in pressure pain threshold between 2 and 4 months ( P psychological variables were significantly higher in those with persistent LBP compared with the recovered LBP group at all time points ( P importance of concurrent evaluation of psychological contributors in acute LBP.

Sensory adaptation to electrical stimulation of the somatosensory nerves.

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Graczyk, Emily Lauren; Delhaye, Benoit; Schiefer, Matthew A; Bensmaia, Sliman J; Tyler, Dustin J

2018-03-19

Sensory systems adapt their sensitivity to ambient stimulation levels to improve their responsiveness to changes in stimulation. The sense of touch is also subject to adaptation, as evidenced by the desensitization produced by prolonged vibratory stimulation of the skin. Electrical stimulation of nerves elicits tactile sensations that can convey feedback for bionic limbs. In this study, we investigate whether artificial touch is also subject to adaptation, despite the fact that the peripheral mechanotransducers are bypassed. Approach: Using well-established psychophysical paradigms, we characterize the time course and magnitude of sensory adaptation caused by extended electrical stimulation of the residual somatosensory nerves in three human amputees implanted with cuff electrodes. Main results: We find that electrical stimulation of the nerve also induces perceptual adaptation that recovers after cessation of the stimulus. The time course and magnitude of electrically-induced adaptation are equivalent to their mechanically-induced counterparts. Significance: We conclude that, in natural touch, the process of mechanotransduction is not required for adaptation, and artificial touch naturally experiences adaptation-induced adjustments of the dynamic range of sensations. Further, as it does for native hands, adaptation confers to bionic hands enhanced sensitivity to changes in stimulation and thus a more natural sensory experience. . Creative Commons Attribution license.

Alterations in Neuronal Activity in Basal Ganglia-Thalamocortical Circuits in the Parkinsonian State

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Adriana eGalvan

2015-02-01

Full Text Available In patients with Parkinson’s disease and in animal models of this disorder, neurons in the basal ganglia and related regions in thalamus and cortex show changes that can be recorded by using electrophysiologic single-cell recording techniques, including altered firing rates and patterns, pathologic oscillatory activity and increased inter-neuronal synchronization. In addition, changes in synaptic potentials or in the joint spiking activities of populations of neurons can be monitored as alterations in local field potentials, electroencephalograms or electrocorticograms. Most of the mentioned electrophysiologic changes are probably related to the degeneration of diencephalic dopaminergic neurons, leading to dopamine loss in the striatum and other basal ganglia nuclei, although degeneration of non-dopaminergic cell groups may also have a role. The altered electrical activity of the basal ganglia and associated nuclei may contribute to some of the motor signs of the disease. We here review the current knowledge of the electrophysiologic changes at the single cell level, the level of local populations of neural elements, and the level of the entire basal ganglia-thalamocortical network in parkinsonism, and discuss the possible use of this information to optimize treatment approaches to Parkinson’s disease, such as deep brain stimulation therapy.

Alterations in neuronal activity in basal ganglia-thalamocortical circuits in the parkinsonian state

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Galvan, Adriana; Devergnas, Annaelle; Wichmann, Thomas

2015-01-01

In patients with Parkinson’s disease and in animal models of this disorder, neurons in the basal ganglia and related regions in thalamus and cortex show changes that can be recorded by using electrophysiologic single-cell recording techniques, including altered firing rates and patterns, pathologic oscillatory activity and increased inter-neuronal synchronization. In addition, changes in synaptic potentials or in the joint spiking activities of populations of neurons can be monitored as alterations in local field potentials (LFPs), electroencephalograms (EEGs) or electrocorticograms (ECoGs). Most of the mentioned electrophysiologic changes are probably related to the degeneration of diencephalic dopaminergic neurons, leading to dopamine loss in the striatum and other basal ganglia nuclei, although degeneration of non-dopaminergic cell groups may also have a role. The altered electrical activity of the basal ganglia and associated nuclei may contribute to some of the motor signs of the disease. We here review the current knowledge of the electrophysiologic changes at the single cell level, the level of local populations of neural elements, and the level of the entire basal ganglia-thalamocortical network in parkinsonism, and discuss the possible use of this information to optimize treatment approaches to Parkinson’s disease, such as deep brain stimulation (DBS) therapy. PMID:25698937

Water-filled training tubes increase core muscle activation and somatosensory control of balance during squat.

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Ditroilo, Massimiliano; O'Sullivan, Rory; Harnan, Brian; Crossey, Aislinn; Gillmor, Beth; Dardis, William; Grainger, Adam

2018-09-01

This study examined trunk muscle activation, balance and proprioception while squatting with a water-filled training tube (WT) and a traditional barbell (BB), with either closed (CE) or open eyes (OE). Eighteen male elite Gaelic footballers performed an isometric squat under the following conditions: BB-OE, BB-CE, WT-OE and WT-CE. The activity of rectus abdominis (RA), external oblique (EO) and multifidus (MF) was measured using electromyography, along with sway of the centre of pressure (CoP) using a force platform. Only the EO and the MF muscles exhibited an increased activity with WT (p velocity and range of the CoP increased significantly with WT (p velocity of the CoP was marginally reduced (d = 0.29). WT elicited a greater level core muscle activation and created a greater challenge to postural stability when compared to a BB. It appears that WT does not benefit from vision but emphasises the somatosensory control of balance. The use of WT may be beneficial in those sports requiring development of somatosensory/proprioceptive contribution to balance control.

Decreased Somatosensory Activity to Non-threatening Touch in Combat Veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

OpenAIRE

Badura-Brack, Amy S.; Becker, Katherine M.; McDermott, Timothy J.; Ryan, Tara J.; Becker, Madelyn M.; Hearley, Allison R.; Heinrichs-Graham, Elizabeth; Wilson, Tony W.

2015-01-01

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a severe psychiatric disorder prevalent in combat veterans. Previous neuroimaging studies have demonstrated that patients with PTSD exhibit abnormal responses to non-threatening visual and auditory stimuli, but have not examined somatosensory processing. Thirty male combat veterans, 16 with PTSD and 14 without, completed a tactile stimulation task during a 306-sensor magnetoencephalography (MEG) recording. Significant oscillatory neural responses were i...

Loss of Ensemble Segregation in Dentate Gyrus, but Not in Somatosensory Cortex, during Contextual Fear Memory Generalization

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Marie Yokoyama

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The details of contextual or episodic memories are lost and generalized with the passage of time. Proper generalization may underlie the formation and assimilation of semantic memories and enable animals to adapt to ever-changing environments, whereas overgeneralization of fear memory evokes maladaptive fear responses to harmless stimuli, which is a symptom of anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD. To understand the neural basis of fear memory generalization, we investigated the patterns of neuronal ensemble reactivation during memory retrieval when contextual fear memory expression is generalized using transgenic mice that allowed us to visualize specific neuronal ensembles activated during memory encoding and retrieval. We found preferential reactivations of neuronal ensembles in the primary somatosensory cortex, when mice were returned to the conditioned context to retrieve their memory 1 day after conditioning. In the hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG, exclusively separated ensemble reactivation was observed when mice were exposed to a novel context. These results suggest that the DG as well as the somatosensory cortex were likely to distinguish the two different contexts at the ensemble activity level when memory is not generalized at the behavioral level. However, 9 days after conditioning when animals exhibited generalized fear, the unique reactivation pattern in the DG, but not in the somatosensory cortex, was lost. Our results suggest that the alternations in the ensemble representation within the DG, or in upstream structures that link the sensory cortex to the hippocampus, may underlie generalized contextual fear memory expression.

Are there abnormalities in peripheral and central components of somatosensory evoked potentials in non - specific chronic low back pain ?

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Christian Puta

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Chronic low back pain (CLBP was shown to be associated with longer reflex response latencies of trunk muscles during external upper limb perturbations. One theoretical, but rarely investigated possibility for longer reflex latencies might be related to modulated somatosensory information processing. Therefore, the present study investigated somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs to median nerve stimulation in CLBP patients and healthy controls (HC. Latencies of the peripheral N9 SEP component were used as primary outcome. In addition, latencies and amplitudes of the central N20 SEP component, sensory thresholds, motor thresholds, and nerve conduction velocity were also analyzed in CLBP patients and HC. There is a trend for the CLBP patients to exhibited longer N9 latencies at the ipsilateral Erb’s point compared to HC. This trend is substantiated by significantly longer N9 latencies in CLBP patients compared to normative data. None of the other parameters showed any significant difference between CLBP patients and HC. Overall, our data indicate small differences of the peripheral N9 SEP component; however, these differences cannot explain the reflex delay observed in CLBP patients. While it was important to rule out the contribution of early somatosensory processing and to elucidate its contribution to the delayed reflex responses in CLBP patients, further research is needed to find the primary source(s of time-delayed reflexes in CLBP.

Spike and burst coding in thalamocortical relay cells.

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Fleur Zeldenrust

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Mammalian thalamocortical relay (TCR neurons switch their firing activity between a tonic spiking and a bursting regime. In a combined experimental and computational study, we investigated the features in the input signal that single spikes and bursts in the output spike train represent and how this code is influenced by the membrane voltage state of the neuron. Identical frozen Gaussian noise current traces were injected into TCR neurons in rat brain slices as well as in a validated three-compartment TCR model cell. The resulting membrane voltage traces and spike trains were analyzed by calculating the coherence and impedance. Reverse correlation techniques gave the Event-Triggered Average (ETA and the Event-Triggered Covariance (ETC. This demonstrated that the feature selectivity started relatively long before the events (up to 300 ms and showed a clear distinction between spikes (selective for fluctuations and bursts (selective for integration. The model cell was fine-tuned to mimic the frozen noise initiated spike and burst responses to within experimental accuracy, especially for the mixed mode regimes. The information content carried by the various types of events in the signal as well as by the whole signal was calculated. Bursts phase-lock to and transfer information at lower frequencies than single spikes. On depolarization the neuron transits smoothly from the predominantly bursting regime to a spiking regime, in which it is more sensitive to high-frequency fluctuations. The model was then used to elucidate properties that could not be assessed experimentally, in particular the role of two important subthreshold voltage-dependent currents: the low threshold activated calcium current (IT and the cyclic nucleotide modulated h current (Ih. The ETAs of those currents and their underlying activation/inactivation states not only explained the state dependence of the firing regime but also the long-lasting concerted dynamic action of the two

Clinical Applications for EPs in the ICU.

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Koenig, Matthew A; Kaplan, Peter W

2015-12-01

In critically ill patients, evoked potential (EP) testing is an important tool for measuring neurologic function, signal transmission, and secondary processing of sensory information in real time. Evoked potential measures conduction along the peripheral and central sensory pathways with longer-latency potentials representing more complex thalamocortical and intracortical processing. In critically ill patients with limited neurologic exams, EP provides a window into brain function and the potential for recovery of consciousness. The most common EP modalities in clinical use in the intensive care unit include somatosensory evoked potentials, brainstem auditory EPs, and cortical event-related potentials. The primary indications for EP in critically ill patients are prognostication in anoxic-ischemic or traumatic coma, monitoring for neurologic improvement or decline, and confirmation of brain death. Somatosensory evoked potentials had become an important prognostic tool for coma recovery, especially in comatose survivors of cardiac arrest. In this population, the bilateral absence of cortical somatosensory evoked potentials has nearly 100% specificity for death or persistent vegetative state. Historically, EP has been regarded as a negative prognostic test, that is, the absence of cortical potentials is associated with poor outcomes while the presence cortical potentials are prognostically indeterminate. In recent studies, the presence of middle-latency and long-latency potentials as well as the amplitude of cortical potentials is more specific for good outcomes. Event-related potentials, particularly mismatch negativity of complex auditory patterns, is emerging as an important positive prognostic test in patients under comatose. Multimodality predictive algorithms that combine somatosensory evoked potentials, event-related potentials, and clinical and radiographic factors are gaining favor for coma prognostication.

Cortical somatosensory-evoked potentials during spine surgery in patients with neuromuscular and idiopathic scoliosis under propofol-remifentanil anaesthesia

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Hermanns, H.; Lipfert, P.; Meier, S.; Jetzek-Zader, M.; Krauspe, R.; Stevens, M. F.

2007-01-01

BACKGROUND: Intraoperative monitoring of the spinal cord via cortical somatosensory-evoked potentials (SSEP) is a routine during spinal surgery. However, especially in neuromuscular scoliosis, the reliability of cortical SSEP has been questioned. Therefore, we compared the feasibility of cortical

Tinnitus in Temporomandibular Joint Disorders: Is it a Specific Somatosensory Tinnitus Subtype?

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Algieri, Giuseppe Maria Antonio; Leonardi, Alessandra; Arangio, Paolo; Vellone, Valentino; Paolo, Carlo Di; Cascone, Piero

2017-04-19

The most significant otologic symptoms, consisting of ear pain, tinnitus, dizziness, hearing loss and auricolar "fullness", generally arise within the auditory system, often are associated with extra auricolar disorders, particularly disorder of the temporo-mandibular joint. In our study we examined a sample of 200 consecutive patients who had experienced severe disabling symptom. The patiens came to maxillofacial specialist assessment for temporomandibular disorder. Each patient was assessed by a detailed anamnestic and clinical temporomandibular joint examination and they are divided into five main groups according classification criteria established by Wilkes; tinnitus and subjective indicators of pain are evaluated. The results of this study provide a close correlation between the joint pathology and otologic symptoms, particularly regarding tinnitus and balance disorders, and that this relationship is greater the more advanced is the stage of joint pathology. Moreover, this study shows that TMD-related tinnitus principally affects a younger population (average fifth decade of life) and mainly women (more than 2/3 of the cases). Such evidence suggests the existence of a specific tinnitus subtype that may be defined as "TMD-related somatosensory tinnitus".

Abnormal activation of the primary somatosensory cortex in spasmodic dysphonia: an fMRI study.

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Simonyan, Kristina; Ludlow, Christy L

2010-11-01

Spasmodic dysphonia (SD) is a task-specific focal dystonia of unknown pathophysiology, characterized by involuntary spasms in the laryngeal muscles during speaking. Our aim was to identify symptom-specific functional brain activation abnormalities in adductor spasmodic dysphonia (ADSD) and abductor spasmodic dysphonia (ABSD). Both SD groups showed increased activation extent in the primary sensorimotor cortex, insula, and superior temporal gyrus during symptomatic and asymptomatic tasks and decreased activation extent in the basal ganglia, thalamus, and cerebellum during asymptomatic tasks. Increased activation intensity in SD patients was found only in the primary somatosensory cortex during symptomatic voice production, which showed a tendency for correlation with ADSD symptoms. Both SD groups had lower correlation of activation intensities between the primary motor and sensory cortices and additional correlations between the basal ganglia, thalamus, and cerebellum during symptomatic and asymptomatic tasks. Compared with ADSD patients, ABSD patients had larger activation extent in the primary sensorimotor cortex and ventral thalamus during symptomatic task and in the inferior temporal cortex and cerebellum during symptomatic and asymptomatic voice production. The primary somatosensory cortex shows consistent abnormalities in activation extent, intensity, correlation with other brain regions, and symptom severity in SD patients and, therefore, may be involved in the pathophysiology of SD.

Sleep onset uncovers thalamic abnormalities in patients with idiopathic generalised epilepsy

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Andrew P. Bagshaw

Full Text Available The thalamus is crucial for sleep regulation and the pathophysiology of idiopathic generalised epilepsy (IGE, and may serve as the underlying basis for the links between the two. We investigated this using EEG-fMRI and a specific emphasis on the role and functional connectivity (FC of the thalamus. We defined three types of thalamic FC: thalamocortical, inter-hemispheric thalamic, and intra-hemispheric thalamic. Patients and controls differed in all three measures, and during wakefulness and sleep, indicating disorder-dependent and state-dependent modification of thalamic FC. Inter-hemispheric thalamic FC differed between patients and controls in somatosensory regions during wakefulness, and occipital regions during sleep. Intra-hemispheric thalamic FC was significantly higher in patients than controls following sleep onset, and disorder-dependent alterations to FC were seen in several thalamic regions always involving somatomotor and occipital regions. As interactions between thalamic sub-regions are indirect and mediated by the inhibitory thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN, the results suggest abnormal TRN function in patients with IGE, with a regional distribution which could suggest a link with the thalamocortical networks involved in the generation of alpha rhythms. Intra-thalamic FC could be a more widely applicable marker beyond patients with IGE. Keywords: Functional connectivity, Generalised epilepsy, Sleep, Thalamic reticular nucleus thalamus

Predictive value of neurological examination for early cortical responses to somatosensory evoked potentials in patients with postanoxic coma

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Bouwes, Aline; Binnekade, Jan M.; Verbaan, Bart W.; Zandbergen, Eveline G. J.; Koelman, Johannes H. T. M.; Weinstein, Henry C.; Hijdra, Albert; Horn, Janneke

2012-01-01

Bilateral absence of cortical N20 responses of median nerve somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP) predicts poor neurological outcome in postanoxic coma after cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Although SEP is easy to perform and available in most hospitals, it is worthwhile to know how

Using constellation pharmacology to define comprehensively a somatosensory neuronal subclass

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Teichert, Russell W.; Memon, Tosifa; Aman, Joseph W.; Olivera, Baldomero M.

2014-01-01

Change is intrinsic to nervous systems; change is required for learning and conditioning and occurs with disease progression, normal development, and aging. To better understand mammalian nervous systems and effectively treat nervous-system disorders, it is essential to track changes in relevant individual neurons. A critical challenge is to identify and characterize the specific cell types involved and the molecular-level changes that occur in each. Using an experimental strategy called constellation pharmacology, we demonstrate that we can define a specific somatosensory neuronal subclass, cold thermosensors, across different species and track changes in these neurons as a function of development. Cold thermosensors are uniformly responsive to menthol and innocuous cool temperature (17 °C), indicating that they express TRPM8 channels. A subset of cold thermosensors expressed α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) but not other nAChR subtypes. Differences in temperature threshold of cold thermosensors correlated with functional expression of voltage-gated K channels Kv1.1/1.2: Relatively higher expression of KV1.1/1.2 channels resulted in a higher threshold response to cold temperature. Other signaling components varied during development and between species. In cold thermosensors of neonatal mice and rats, ATP receptors were functionally expressed, but the expression disappeared with development. This developmental change occurred earlier in low-threshold than high-threshold cold thermosensors. Most rat cold thermosensors expressed TRPA1 channels, whereas mouse cold thermosensors did not. The broad implications of this study are that it is now feasible to track changes in receptor and ion-channel expression in individual neuronal subclasses as a function of development, learning, disease, or aging. PMID:24469798

MEG event-related desynchronization and synchronization deficits during basic somatosensory processing in individuals with ADHD

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Wang Frank

2008-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD is a prevalent, complex disorder which is characterized by symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Convergent evidence from neurobiological studies of ADHD identifies dysfunction in fronto-striatal-cerebellar circuitry as the source of behavioural deficits. Recent studies have shown that regions governing basic sensory processing, such as the somatosensory cortex, show abnormalities in those with ADHD suggesting that these processes may also be compromised. Methods We used event-related magnetoencephalography (MEG to examine patterns of cortical rhythms in the primary (SI and secondary (SII somatosensory cortices in response to median nerve stimulation, in 9 adults with ADHD and 10 healthy controls. Stimuli were brief (0.2 ms non-painful electrical pulses presented to the median nerve in two counterbalanced conditions: unpredictable and predictable stimulus presentation. We measured changes in strength, synchronicity, and frequency of cortical rhythms. Results Healthy comparison group showed strong event-related desynchrony and synchrony in SI and SII. By contrast, those with ADHD showed significantly weaker event-related desynchrony and event-related synchrony in the alpha (8–12 Hz and beta (15–30 Hz bands, respectively. This was most striking during random presentation of median nerve stimulation. Adults with ADHD showed significantly shorter duration of beta rebound in both SI and SII except for when the onset of the stimulus event could be predicted. In this case, the rhythmicity of SI (but not SII in the ADHD group did not differ from that of controls. Conclusion Our findings suggest that somatosensory processing is altered in individuals with ADHD. MEG constitutes a promising approach to profiling patterns of neural activity during the processing of sensory input (e.g., detection of a tactile stimulus, stimulus predictability and facilitating our

Pathway-specific variations in neurovascular and neurometabolic coupling in rat primary somatosensory cortex

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Enager, Pia; Hansen, Henning Piilgaard; Offenhauser, Nikolas

2009-01-01

Functional neuroimaging signals are generated, in part, by increases in cerebral blood flow (CBF) evoked by mediators, such as nitric oxide and arachidonic acid derivatives that are released in response to increased neurotransmission. However, it is unknown whether the vascular and metabolic resp...... critically on the type of input, and that a positive blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal may be a consequence of the activation of both pyramidal cells and inhibitory interneurons.......Functional neuroimaging signals are generated, in part, by increases in cerebral blood flow (CBF) evoked by mediators, such as nitric oxide and arachidonic acid derivatives that are released in response to increased neurotransmission. However, it is unknown whether the vascular and metabolic...... different inputs to a single cortical area. We show that, for a given level of glutamatergic synaptic activity, corticocortical and thalamocortical inputs evoked activity in pyramidal cells and different classes of interneurons, and produced different changes in oxygen consumption and CBF. Furthermore...

A role for the preoptic sleep-promoting system in absence epilepsy.

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Suntsova, N; Kumar, S; Guzman-Marin, R; Alam, M N; Szymusiak, R; McGinty, D

2009-10-01

Absence epilepsy (AE) in humans and the genetic AE model in WAG/Rij rats are both associated with abnormalities in sleep architecture that suggest insufficiency of the sleep-promoting mechanisms. In this study we compared the functionality of sleep-active neuronal groups within two well-established sleep-promoting sites, the ventrolateral and median preoptic nuclei (VLPO and MnPN, respectively), in WAG/Rij and control rats. Neuronal activity was assessed using c-Fos immunoreactivity and chronic single-unit recording techniques. We found that WAG/Rij rats exhibited a lack of sleep-associated c-Fos activation of GABAergic MnPN and VLPO neurons, a lower percentage of MnPN and VLPO cells increasing discharge during sleep and reduced firing rates of MnPN sleep-active neurons, compared to non-epileptic rats. The role of sleep-promoting mechanisms in pathogenesis of absence seizures was assessed in non-epileptic rats using electrical stimulation and chemical manipulations restricted to the MnPN. We found that fractional activation of the sleep-promoting system in waking was sufficient to elicit absence-like seizures. Given that reciprocally interrelated sleep-promoting and arousal neuronal groups control thalamocortical excitability, we hypothesize that malfunctioning of sleep-promoting system results in impaired ascending control over thalamocortical rhythmogenic mechanisms during wake-sleep transitions thus favoring aberrant thalamocortical oscillations. Our findings suggest a pathological basis for AE-associated sleep abnormalities and a mechanism underlying association of absence seizures with wake-sleep transitions.

Seeing touch in the somatosensory cortex: a TMS study of the visual perception of touch.

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Bolognini, Nadia; Rossetti, Angela; Maravita, Angelo; Miniussi, Carlo

2011-12-01

Recent studies suggest the existence of a visuo-tactile mirror system, comprising the primary (SI) and secondary (SII) somatosensory cortices, which matches observed touch with felt touch. Here, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) was used to determine whether SI or SII play a functional role in the visual processing of tactile events. Healthy participants performed a visual discrimination task with tactile stimuli (a finger touching a hand) and a control task (a finger moving without touching). During both tasks, rTMS was applied over either SI or SII, and to the occipital cortex. rTMS over SI selectively reduced subject performance for interpreting whether a contralateral visual tactile stimulus contains a tactile event, whereas SII stimulation impaired visual processing regardless of the tactile component. These findings provide evidence for a multimodal sensory-motor system with mirror properties, where somatic and visual properties of action converge. SI, a cortical area traditionally viewed as modality-specific, is selectively implicated in the visual processing of touch. These results are in line with the existence of a sensory mirror system mediating the embodied simulation concept. Copyright © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Dynamic analysis of the conditional oscillator underlying slow waves in thalamocortical neurons

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Francois eDavid

2016-02-01

Full Text Available During non-REM sleep the EEG shows characteristics waves that are generated by the dynamic interactions between cortical and thalamic oscillators. In thalamic neurons, low-threshold T-type Ca2+ channels play a pivotal role in almost every type of neuronal oscillations, including slow (<1 Hz waves, sleep spindles and delta waves. The transient opening of T channels gives rise to the low threshold spikes (LTSs, and associated high frequency bursts of action potentials, that are characteristically present during sleep spindles and delta waves, whereas the persistent opening of a small fraction of T channels, (i.e. ITwindow is responsible for the membrane potential bistability underlying sleep slow oscillations. Surprisingly thalamocortical (TC neurons express a very high density of T channels that largely exceed the amount required to generate LTSs and therefore, to support certain, if not all, sleep oscillations. Here, to clarify the relationship between T current density and sleep oscillations, we systematically investigated the impact of the T conductance level on the intrinsic rhythmic activities generated in TC neurons, combining in vitro experiments and TC neuron simulation. Using bifurcation analysis, we provide insights into the dynamical processes taking place at the transition between slow and delta oscillations. Our results show that although stable delta oscillations can be evoked with minimal T conductance, the full range of slow oscillation patterns, including groups of delta oscillations separated by Up states (grouped-delta slow waves requires a high density of T channels. Moreover, high levels of T conductance ensure the robustness of different types of slow oscillations.

Weak but Critical Links between Primary Somatosensory Centers and Motor Cortex during Movement

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Pengxu Wei

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Motor performance is improved by stimulation of the agonist muscle during movement. However, related brain mechanisms remain unknown. In this work, we perform a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI study in 21 healthy subjects under three different conditions: (1 movement of right ankle alone; (2 movement and simultaneous stimulation of the agonist muscle; or (3 movement and simultaneous stimulation of a control area. We constructed weighted brain networks for each condition by using functional connectivity. Network features were analyzed using graph theoretical approaches. We found that: (1 the second condition evokes the strongest and most widespread brain activations (5147 vs. 4419 and 2320 activated voxels; and (2 this condition also induces a unique network layout and changes hubs and the modular structure of the brain motor network by activating the most “silent” links between primary somatosensory centers and the motor cortex, particularly weak links from the thalamus to the left primary motor cortex (M1. Significant statistical differences were found when the strength values of the right cerebellum (P < 0.001 or the left thalamus (P = 0.006 were compared among the three conditions. Over the years, studies reported a small number of projections from the thalamus to the motor cortex. This is the first work to present functions of these pathways. These findings reveal mechanisms for enhancing motor function with somatosensory stimulation, and suggest that network function cannot be thoroughly understood when weak ties are disregarded.

Ensemble encoding of nociceptive stimulus intensity in the rat medial and lateral pain systems

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Woodward Donald J

2011-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The ability to encode noxious stimulus intensity is essential for the neural processing of pain perception. It is well accepted that the intensity information is transmitted within both sensory and affective pathways. However, it remains unclear what the encoding patterns are in the thalamocortical brain regions, and whether the dual pain systems share similar responsibility in intensity coding. Results Multichannel single-unit recordings were used to investigate the activity of individual neurons and neuronal ensembles in the rat brain following the application of noxious laser stimuli of increasing intensity to the hindpaw. Four brain regions were monitored, including two within the lateral sensory pain pathway, namely, the ventral posterior lateral thalamic nuclei and the primary somatosensory cortex, and two in the medial pathway, namely, the medial dorsal thalamic nuclei and the anterior cingulate cortex. Neuron number, firing rate, and ensemble spike count codings were examined in this study. Our results showed that the noxious laser stimulation evoked double-peak responses in all recorded brain regions. Significant correlations were found between the laser intensity and the number of responsive neurons, the firing rates, as well as the mass spike counts (MSCs. MSC coding was generally more efficient than the other two methods. Moreover, the coding capacities of neurons in the two pathways were comparable. Conclusion This study demonstrated the collective contribution of medial and lateral pathway neurons to the noxious intensity coding. Additionally, we provide evidence that ensemble spike count may be the most reliable method for coding pain intensity in the brain.

Multimodal and widespread somatosensory abnormalities in persistent shoulder pain in the first 6 months efter stroke: An exploratory study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Roosink, M.; van Dongen, Robert T.; Buitenweg, Jan R.; Renzenbrink, Gerbert J.; Geurts, Alexander C.; IJzerman, Maarten Joost

2012-01-01

Objective: To explore the role of multimodal and widespread somatosensory abnormalities in the development of persistent poststroke shoulder pain (pPSSP) in the first 6 months after stroke. Design: Prospective inception cohort study. Setting: Stroke units of 2 teaching hospitals. Participants: The

MEG reveals a fast pathway from somatosensory cortex to occipital areas via posterior parietal cortex in a blind subject

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Ioannides, Andreas A; Liu, Lichan; Poghosyan, Vahe

2013-01-01

magnetoencephalography (MEG) data recorded from one congenitally blind and two sighted subjects after stimulation of the left and right median nerves at three intensities: below sensory threshold, above sensory threshold and above motor threshold; the last sufficient to produce thumb twitching. We identified...... reproducible brain responses in the primary somatosensory (S1) and motor (M1) cortices at around 20 ms post-stimulus, which were very similar in sighted and blind subjects. Time-frequency analysis revealed strong 45-70 Hz activity at latencies of 20-50 ms in S1 and M1, and posterior parietal cortex Brodmann...... of information through this pathway occurred in stages characterized by convergence of activations into specific cortical regions. In sighted subjects, no linked activity was found that led from the somatosensory to the visual cortex through any of the studied brain regions. These results provide the first...

Effects of white noise on event-related potentials in somatosensory Go/No-go paradigms.

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Ohbayashi, Wakana; Kakigi, Ryusuke; Nakata, Hiroki

2017-09-06

Exposure to auditory white noise has been shown to facilitate human cognitive function. This phenomenon is termed stochastic resonance, and a moderate amount of auditory noise has been suggested to benefit individuals in hypodopaminergic states. The present study investigated the effects of white noise on the N140 and P300 components of event-related potentials in somatosensory Go/No-go paradigms. A Go or No-go stimulus was presented to the second or fifth digit of the left hand, respectively, at the same probability. Participants performed somatosensory Go/No-go paradigms while hearing three different white noise levels (45, 55, and 65 dB conditions). The peak amplitudes of Go-P300 and No-go-P300 in ERP waveforms were significantly larger under 55 dB than 45 and 65 dB conditions. White noise did not affect the peak latency of N140 or P300, or the peak amplitude of N140. Behavioral data for the reaction time, SD of reaction time, and error rates showed the absence of an effect by white noise. This is the first event-related potential study to show that exposure to auditory white noise at 55 dB enhanced the amplitude of P300 during Go/No-go paradigms, reflecting changes in the neural activation of response execution and inhibition processing.

Frequency specific modulation of human somatosensory cortex

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Matteo eFeurra

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Oscillatory neuronal activities are commonly observed in response to sensory stimulation. However, their functional roles are still the subject of debate. One way to probe the roles of oscillatory neural activities is to deliver alternating current to the cortex at biologically relevant frequencies and examine whether such stimulation influences perception and cognition. In this study, we tested whether transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS over the primary somatosensory cortex (SI could elicit tactile sensations in humans in a frequency dependent manner. We tested the effectiveness of tACS over SI at frequency bands ranging from 2 to 70 Hz. Our results show that stimulation in alpha (10-14 Hz and high gamma (52-70 Hz frequency range produces a tactile sensation in the contralateral hand. A weaker effect was also observed for beta (16-20 Hz stimulation. These findings highlight the frequency-dependency of effective tACS over SI with the effective frequencies corresponding to those observed in previous EEG/MEG studies of tactile perception. Our present study suggests that tACS could be used as a powerful online stimulation technique to reveal the causal roles of oscillatory brain activities.

Corticospinal and Spinal Excitabilities Are Modulated during Motor Imagery Associated with Somatosensory Electrical Nerve Stimulation

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E. Traverse

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Motor imagery (MI, the mental simulation of an action, influences the cortical, corticospinal, and spinal levels, despite the lack of somatosensory afferent feedbacks. The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of MI associated with somatosensory stimulation (SS on the corticospinal and spinal excitabilities. We used transcranial magnetic stimulation and peripheral nerve stimulation to induce motor-evoked potentials (MEP and H-reflexes, respectively, in soleus and medialis gastrocnemius (MG muscles of the right leg. Twelve participants performed three tasks: (1 MI of submaximal plantar flexion, (2 SS at 65 Hz on the posterior tibial nerve with an intensity below the motor threshold, and (3 MI + SS. MEP and H-reflex amplitudes were recorded before, during, and after the tasks. Our results confirmed that MI increased corticospinal excitability in a time-specific manner. We found that MI+SS tended to potentiate MEP amplitude of the MG muscle compared to MI alone. We confirmed that SS decreased spinal excitability, and this decrease was partially compensated when combined with MI, especially for the MG muscle. The increase of CSE could be explained by a modulation of the spinal inhibitions induced by SS, depending on the amount of afferent feedbacks.

Rapid-rate paired associative stimulation over the primary somatosensory cortex.

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Philemon Tsang

Full Text Available Rapid-rate paired associative stimulation (rPAS involves repeat pairing of peripheral nerve stimulation and Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS pulses at a 5 Hz frequency. RPAS over primary motor cortex (M1 operates with spike-timing dependent plasticity such that increases in corticospinal excitability occur when the nerve and TMS pulse temporally coincide in cortex. The present study investigates the effects of rPAS over primary somatosensory cortex (SI which has not been performed to date. In a series of experiments, rPAS was delivered over SI and M1 at varying timing intervals between the nerve and TMS pulse based on the latency of the N20 somatosensory evoked potential (SEP component within each participant (intervals for SI-rPAS: N20, N20-2.5 ms, N20 + 2.5 ms, intervals for M1-rPAS: N20, N20+5 ms. Changes in SI physiology were measured via SEPs (N20, P25, N20-P25 and SEP paired-pulse inhibition, and changes in M1 physiology were measured with motor evoked potentials and short-latency afferent inhibition. Measures were obtained before rPAS and at 5, 25 and 45 minutes following stimulation. Results indicate that paired-pulse inhibition and short-latency afferent inhibition were reduced only when the SI-rPAS nerve-TMS timing interval was set to N20-2.5 ms. SI-rPAS over SI also led to remote effects on motor physiology over a wider range of nerve-TMS intervals (N20-2.5 ms - N20+2.5 ms during which motor evoked potentials were increased. M1-rPAS increased motor evoked potentials and reduced short-latency afferent inhibition as previously reported. These data provide evidence that, similar to M1, rPAS over SI is spike-timing dependent and is capable of exerting changes in SI and M1 physiology.

Effects of Improvement on Selective Attention: Developing Appropriate Somatosensory Video Game Interventions for Institutional-Dwelling Elderly with Disabilities

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Chen, Shang-Ti; Chiang, I-Tsun; Liu, Eric Zhi-Feng; Chang, Maiga

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to develop appropriate somatosensory video game interventions on enhancing selective attention of institutional-dwelling elderly with disabilities. Fifty-eight participants aged 65[approximately]92 were recruited and divided into four groups, 4-week and 8-week experimental and two control groups, for evaluating the…

Visual cortical somatosensory and brainstem auditory evoked potentials following incidental irradiation of the rhombencephalon

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Nightingale, S. (Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne (UK)); Schofield, I.S.; Dawes, P.J.D.K. (Newcastle upon Tyne Univ. (UK). Newcastle General Hospital)

1984-01-01

Visual, cortical somatosensory and brainstem auditory evoked potentials were recorded before incidental irradiation of the rhombencephalon during radiotherapy in and around the middle ear, and at 11 weeks and eight months after completion of treatment. No patient experienced neurological symptoms during this period. No consistent changes in evoked potentials were found. The failure to demonstrate subclinical radiation-induced demyelination suggests either that the syndrome of early-delayed radiation rhombencephalopathy occurs in an idiosyncratic manner, or that any subclinical lesions are not detectable by serial evoked potential recordings.

Co-occurrence of Pain Symptoms and Somatosensory Sensitivity in Burning Mouth Syndrome: A Systematic Review

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Moisset, Xavier; Calbacho, Valentina; Torres, Pilar; Gremeau-Richard, Christelle; Dallel, Radhouane

2016-01-01

Background Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is a chronic and spontaneous oral pain with burning quality in the tongue or other oral mucosa without any identifiable oral lesion or laboratory finding. Pathogenesis and etiology of BMS are still unknown. However, BMS has been associated with other chronic pain syndromes including other idiopathic orofacial pain, the dynias group and the family of central sensitivity syndromes. This would imply that BMS shares common mechanisms with other cephalic and/or extracephalic chronic pains. The primary aim of this systematic review was to determine whether BMS is actually associated with other pain syndromes, and to analyze cephalic and extracephalic somatosensory sensitivity in these patients. Methods This report followed the PRISMA Statement. An electronic search was performed until January 2015 in PubMed, Cochrane library, Wiley and ScienceDirect. Searched terms included “burning mouth syndrome OR stomatodynia OR glossodynia OR burning tongue OR oral burning”. Studies were selected according to predefined inclusion criteria (report of an association between BMS and other pain(s) symptoms or of cutaneous cephalic and/or extracephalic quantitative sensory testing in BMS patients), and a descriptive analysis conducted. Results The search retrieved 1512 reports. Out of these, twelve articles met criteria for co-occurring pain symptoms and nine studies for quantitative sensory testing (QST) in BMS patients. The analysis reveals that in BMS patients co-occurring pain symptoms are rare, assessed by only 0.8% (12 of 1512) of the retrieved studies. BMS was associated with headaches, TMD, atypical facial pain, trigeminal neuralgia, post-herpetic facial pain, back pain, fibromyalgia, joint pain, abdominal pain, rectal pain or vulvodynia. However, the prevalence of pain symptoms in BMS patients is not different from that in the age-matched general population. QST studies reveal no or inconsistent evidence of abnormal cutaneous cephalic

Co-occurrence of Pain Symptoms and Somatosensory Sensitivity in Burning Mouth Syndrome: A Systematic Review.

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Xavier Moisset

Full Text Available Burning mouth syndrome (BMS is a chronic and spontaneous oral pain with burning quality in the tongue or other oral mucosa without any identifiable oral lesion or laboratory finding. Pathogenesis and etiology of BMS are still unknown. However, BMS has been associated with other chronic pain syndromes including other idiopathic orofacial pain, the dynias group and the family of central sensitivity syndromes. This would imply that BMS shares common mechanisms with other cephalic and/or extracephalic chronic pains. The primary aim of this systematic review was to determine whether BMS is actually associated with other pain syndromes, and to analyze cephalic and extracephalic somatosensory sensitivity in these patients.This report followed the PRISMA Statement. An electronic search was performed until January 2015 in PubMed, Cochrane library, Wiley and ScienceDirect. Searched terms included "burning mouth syndrome OR stomatodynia OR glossodynia OR burning tongue OR oral burning". Studies were selected according to predefined inclusion criteria (report of an association between BMS and other pain(s symptoms or of cutaneous cephalic and/or extracephalic quantitative sensory testing in BMS patients, and a descriptive analysis conducted.The search retrieved 1512 reports. Out of these, twelve articles met criteria for co-occurring pain symptoms and nine studies for quantitative sensory testing (QST in BMS patients. The analysis reveals that in BMS patients co-occurring pain symptoms are rare, assessed by only 0.8% (12 of 1512 of the retrieved studies. BMS was associated with headaches, TMD, atypical facial pain, trigeminal neuralgia, post-herpetic facial pain, back pain, fibromyalgia, joint pain, abdominal pain, rectal pain or vulvodynia. However, the prevalence of pain symptoms in BMS patients is not different from that in the age-matched general population. QST studies reveal no or inconsistent evidence of abnormal cutaneous cephalic and extracephalic

Diffuse optical tomography activation in the somatosensory cortex: specific activation by painful vs. non-painful thermal stimuli.

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Lino Becerra

2009-11-01

Full Text Available Pain is difficult to assess due to the subjective nature of self-reporting. The lack of objective measures of pain has hampered the development of new treatments as well as the evaluation of current ones. Functional MRI studies of pain have begun to delineate potential brain response signatures that could be used as objective read-outs of pain. Using Diffuse Optical Tomography (DOT, we have shown in the past a distinct DOT signal over the somatosensory cortex to a noxious heat stimulus that could be distinguished from the signal elicited by innocuous mechanical stimuli. Here we further our findings by studying the response to thermal innocuous and noxious stimuli.Innocuous and noxious thermal stimuli were applied to the skin of the face of the first division (ophthalmic of the trigeminal nerve in healthy volunteers (N = 6. Stimuli temperatures were adjusted for each subject to evoke warm (equivalent to a 3/10 and painful hot (7/10 sensations in a verbal rating scale (0/10 = no/max pain. A set of 26 stimuli (5 sec each was applied for each temperature with inter-stimulus intervals varied between 8 and 15 sec using a Peltier thermode. A DOT system was used to capture cortical responses on both sides of the head over the primary somatosensory cortical region (S1. For the innocuous stimuli, group results indicated mainly activation on the contralateral side with a weak ipsilateral response. For the noxious stimuli, bilateral activation was observed with comparable amplitudes on both sides. Furthermore, noxious stimuli produced a temporal biphasic response while innocuous stimuli produced a monophasic response.These results are in accordance with fMRI and our other DOT studies of innocuous mechanical and noxious heat stimuli. The data indicate the differentiation of DOT cortical responses for pain vs. innocuous stimuli that may be useful in assessing objectively acute pain.

Anti-correlated cortical networks arise from spontaneous neuronal dynamics at slow timescales.

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Kodama, Nathan X; Feng, Tianyi; Ullett, James J; Chiel, Hillel J; Sivakumar, Siddharth S; Galán, Roberto F

2018-01-12

In the highly interconnected architectures of the cerebral cortex, recurrent intracortical loops disproportionately outnumber thalamo-cortical inputs. These networks are also capable of generating neuronal activity without feedforward sensory drive. It is unknown, however, what spatiotemporal patterns may be solely attributed to intrinsic connections of the local cortical network. Using high-density microelectrode arrays, here we show that in the isolated, primary somatosensory cortex of mice, neuronal firing fluctuates on timescales from milliseconds to tens of seconds. Slower firing fluctuations reveal two spatially distinct neuronal ensembles, which correspond to superficial and deeper layers. These ensembles are anti-correlated: when one fires more, the other fires less and vice versa. This interplay is clearest at timescales of several seconds and is therefore consistent with shifts between active sensing and anticipatory behavioral states in mice.

Decoding stimulus features in primate somatosensory cortex during perceptual categorization

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Alvarez, Manuel; Zainos, Antonio; Romo, Ranulfo

2015-01-01

Neurons of the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) respond as functions of frequency or amplitude of a vibrotactile stimulus. However, whether S1 neurons encode both frequency and amplitude of the vibrotactile stimulus or whether each sensory feature is encoded by separate populations of S1 neurons is not known, To further address these questions, we recorded S1 neurons while trained monkeys categorized only one sensory feature of the vibrotactile stimulus: frequency, amplitude, or duration. The results suggest a hierarchical encoding scheme in S1: from neurons that encode all sensory features of the vibrotactile stimulus to neurons that encode only one sensory feature. We hypothesize that the dynamic representation of each sensory feature in S1 might serve for further downstream processing that leads to the monkey’s psychophysical behavior observed in these tasks. PMID:25825711

Critical Factors for Inducing Curved Somatosensory Saccades

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Tamami Nakano

2011-10-01

Full Text Available We are able to make a saccade toward a tactile stimuli to one hand, but trajectories of many saccades curved markedly when the arms were crossed (Groh & Sparks, 2006. However, it remains unknown why some curved and others did not. We therefore examined critical factors for inducing the curved somatosensory saccades. Participants made a saccade as soon as possible from a central fixation point toward a tactile stimulus delivered to one of the two hands, and switched between arms-crossed and arms-uncrossed postures every 6 trials. Trajectories were generally straight when the arms were uncrossed, but all participants made curved saccades when the arms were crossed (12–64%. We found that the probability of curved saccades depended critically on the onset latency: the probability was less than 5% when the latency was larger than 250 ms, but the probability increased up to 70–80% when the onset latency was 160 ms. This relationship was shared across participants. The results suggest that a touch in the arms-crossed posture was always mapped to the wrong hand in the initial phase up to 160 ms, and then remapped to the correct hand during the next 100 ms by some fundamental neural mechanisms shared across participants.

Visual cortical somatosensory and brainstem auditory evoked potentials following incidental irradiation of the rhombencephalon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nightingale, S.; Schofield, I.S.; Dawes, P.J.D.K.

1984-01-01

Visual, cortical somatosensory and brainstem auditory evoked potentials were recorded before incidental irradiation of the rhombencephalon during radiotherapy in and around the middle ear, and at 11 weeks and eight months after completion of treatment. No patient experienced neurological symptoms during this period. No consistent changes in evoked potentials were found. The failure to demonstrate subclinical radiation-induced demyelination suggests either that the syndrome of early-delayed radiation rhombencephalopathy occurs in an idiosyncratic manner, or that any subclinical lesions are not detectable by serial evoked potential recordings. (author)

Somatosensory Tinnitus: Correlation between Cranio-Cervico-Mandibular Disorder History and Somatic Modulation.

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Ralli, Massimo; Altissimi, Giancarlo; Turchetta, Rosaria; Mazzei, Filippo; Salviati, Massimo; Cianfrone, Francesca; Orlando, Maria Patrizia; Testugini, Valeria; Cianfrone, Giancarlo

2016-01-01

In a subpopulation of patients, tinnitus can be modulated by movements of the jaw or head and neck due to complex somatosensory-auditory interactions. In some of these subjects, tinnitus could be related to an underlying temporomandibular (TMJ) or craniocervical (NECK) dysfunction that, if correctly identified, could streamline treatment and increase chances of tinnitus improvement. However, it is still unclear whether somatic modulation of tinnitus could be used as a screening tool for identifying such patients. In this study, we included 310 tinnitus patients with normal hearing, no psychiatric comorbidities, and a positive history of TMJ and/or NECK dysfunction and/or a positive modulation of tinnitus to evaluate the characteristics of somatic modulation, investigate the relationship between positive history and positive modulation, and identify factors most strongly associated with somatic modulation. Tinnitus modulation was present in 79.67% of the patients. We found a significant association within the same subjects between a positive history and a positive tinnitus modulation for the same region, mainly for TMJ in unilateral tinnitus patients and for TMJ + NECK in bilateral tinnitus patients. A strong correlation between history and modulation in the same somatic region within the same subgroups of subjects was also identified. Most TMJ maneuvers resulted in an increased loudness, while NECK maneuvers showed an increase in tinnitus loudness in about 59% of cases. High-pitched tinnitus and male gender were associated with a higher prevalence of modulation; no differences were found for tinnitus onset, Tinnitus Handicap Inventory score, and age. In this paper, we report a strong association between history and modulation for the same regions within the same patients; such an association should always be investigated to improve chances of a correct diagnosis of somatosensory tinnitus. © 2017 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Metaplasticity in human primary somatosensory cortex: effects on physiology and tactile perception.

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Jones, Christina B; Lulic, Tea; Bailey, Aaron Z; Mackenzie, Tanner N; Mi, Yi Qun; Tommerdahl, Mark; Nelson, Aimee J

2016-05-01

Theta-burst stimulation (TBS) over human primary motor cortex evokes plasticity and metaplasticity, the latter contributing to the homeostatic balance of excitation and inhibition. Our knowledge of TBS-induced effects on primary somatosensory cortex (SI) is limited, and it is unknown whether TBS induces metaplasticity within human SI. Sixteen right-handed participants (6 females, mean age 23 yr) received two TBS protocols [continuous TBS (cTBS) and intermittent TBS (iTBS)] delivered in six different combinations over SI in separate sessions. TBS protocols were delivered at 30 Hz and were as follows: a single cTBS protocol, a single iTBS protocol, cTBS followed by cTBS, iTBS followed by iTBS, cTBS followed by iTBS, and iTBS followed by cTBS. Measures included the amplitudes of the first and second somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) via median nerve stimulation, their paired-pulse ratio (PPR), and temporal order judgment (TOJ). Dependent measures were obtained before TBS and at 5, 25, 50, and 90 min following stimulation. Results indicate similar effects following cTBS and iTBS; increased amplitudes of the second SEP and PPR without amplitude changes to SEP 1, and impairments in TOJ. Metaplasticity was observed such that TOJ impairments following a single cTBS protocol were abolished following consecutive cTBS protocols. Additionally, consecutive iTBS protocols altered the time course of effects when compared with a single iTBS protocol. In conclusion, 30-Hz cTBS and iTBS protocols delivered in isolation induce effects consistent with a TBS-induced reduction in intracortical inhibition within SI. Furthermore, cTBS- and iTBS-induced metaplasticity appear to follow homeostatic and nonhomeostatic rules, respectively. Copyright © 2016 the American Physiological Society.

Primary somatosensory cortex in chronic low back pain – a 1H-MRS study

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Sharma KN

2011-05-01

Full Text Available Neena K Sharma1, Kenneth McCarson2, Linda Van Dillen5, Angela Lentz1, Talal Khan3, Carmen M Cirstea1,41Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, 2Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Therapeutics, 3Department of Anesthesiology, 4Hoglund Brain Imaging Center, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, USA; 5Program in Physical Therapy and Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO, USAAbstract: The goal of this study was to investigate whether certain metabolites, specific to neurons, glial cells, and the neuronal-glial neurotransmission system, in the primary somatosensory cortex (SSC, are altered and correlated with clinical characteristics of pain in patients with chronic low back pain (LBP. Eleven LBP patients and eleven age-matched healthy controls were included. N-acetylaspartate (NAA, choline (Cho, myo-inositol (mI, and glutamine/glutamate (Glx were measured with proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS in left and right SSC. Differences in metabolite concentrations relative to those of controls were evaluated as well as analyses of metabolite correlations within and between SSCs. Relationships between metabolite concentrations and pain characteristics were also evaluated. We found decreased NAA in the left SSC (P = 0.001 and decreased Cho (P = 0.04 along with lower correlations between all metabolites in right SSC (P = 0.007 in LBP compared to controls. In addition, we found higher and significant correlations between left and right mI (P < 0.001 in LBP vs P = 0.1 in controls and between left mI and right Cho (P = 0.048 vs P = 0.6. Left and right NAA levels were negatively correlated with pain duration (P = 0.04 and P = 0.02 respectively while right Glx was positively correlated with pain severity (P = 0.04. Our preliminary results demonstrated significant altered neuronal-glial interactions in SSC, with left neural alterations related to pain duration

Activity in the primary somatosensory cortex induced by reflexological stimulation is unaffected by pseudo-information: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

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Miura, Naoki; Akitsuki, Yuko; Sekiguchi, Atsushi; Kawashima, Ryuta

2013-05-27

Reflexology is an alternative medical practice that produces beneficial effects by applying pressure to specific reflex areas. Our previous study suggested that reflexological stimulation induced cortical activation in somatosensory cortex corresponding to the stimulated reflex area; however, we could not rule out the possibility of a placebo effect resulting from instructions given during the experimental task. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate how reflexological stimulation of the reflex area is processed in the primary somatosensory cortex when correct and pseudo-information about the reflex area is provided. Furthermore, the laterality of activation to the reflexological stimulation was investigated. Thirty-two healthy Japanese volunteers participated. The experiment followed a double-blind design. Half of the subjects received correct information, that the base of the second toe was the eye reflex area, and pseudo-information, that the base of the third toe was the shoulder reflex area. The other half of the subjects received the opposite information. fMRI time series data were acquired during reflexological stimulation to both feet. The experimenter stimulated each reflex area in accordance with an auditory cue. The fMRI data were analyzed using a conventional two-stage approach. The hemodynamic responses produced by the stimulation of each reflex area were assessed using a general linear model on an intra-subject basis, and a two-way repeated-measures analysis of variance was performed on an intersubject basis to determine the effect of reflex area laterality and information accuracy. Our results indicated that stimulation of the eye reflex area in either foot induced activity in the left middle postcentral gyrus, the area to which tactile sensation to the face projects, as well as in the postcentral gyrus contralateral foot representation area. This activity was not affected by pseudo information. The results also indicate

Activity in the primary somatosensory cortex induced by reflexological stimulation is unaffected by pseudo-information: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

Background Reflexology is an alternative medical practice that produces beneficial effects by applying pressure to specific reflex areas. Our previous study suggested that reflexological stimulation induced cortical activation in somatosensory cortex corresponding to the stimulated reflex area; however, we could not rule out the possibility of a placebo effect resulting from instructions given during the experimental task. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate how reflexological stimulation of the reflex area is processed in the primary somatosensory cortex when correct and pseudo-information about the reflex area is provided. Furthermore, the laterality of activation to the reflexological stimulation was investigated. Methods Thirty-two healthy Japanese volunteers participated. The experiment followed a double-blind design. Half of the subjects received correct information, that the base of the second toe was the eye reflex area, and pseudo-information, that the base of the third toe was the shoulder reflex area. The other half of the subjects received the opposite information. fMRI time series data were acquired during reflexological stimulation to both feet. The experimenter stimulated each reflex area in accordance with an auditory cue. The fMRI data were analyzed using a conventional two-stage approach. The hemodynamic responses produced by the stimulation of each reflex area were assessed using a general linear model on an intra-subject basis, and a two-way repeated-measures analysis of variance was performed on an intersubject basis to determine the effect of reflex area laterality and information accuracy. Results Our results indicated that stimulation of the eye reflex area in either foot induced activity in the left middle postcentral gyrus, the area to which tactile sensation to the face projects, as well as in the postcentral gyrus contralateral foot representation area. This activity was not affected by pseudo information

Differential effects of aging on fore- and hindpaw maps of rat somatosensory cortex.

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Marianne David-Jürgens

Full Text Available Getting older is associated with a decline of cognitive and sensorimotor abilities, but it remains elusive whether age-related changes are due to accumulating degenerational processes, rendering them largely irreversible, or whether they reflect plastic, adaptational and presumably compensatory changes. Using aged rats as a model we studied how aging affects neural processing in somatosensory cortex. By multi-unit recordings in the fore- and hindpaw cortical maps we compared the effects of aging on receptive field size and response latencies. While in aged animals response latencies of neurons of both cortical representations were lengthened by approximately the same amount, only RFs of hindpaw neurons showed severe expansion with only little changes of forepaw RFs. To obtain insight into parallel changes of walking behavior, we recorded footprints in young and old animals which revealed a general age-related impairment of walking. In addition we found evidence for a limb-specific deterioration of the hindlimbs that was not observed in the forelimbs. Our results show that age-related changes of somatosensory cortical neurons display a complex pattern of regional specificity and parameter-dependence indicating that aging acts rather selectively on cortical processing of sensory information. The fact that RFs of the fore- and hindpaws do not co-vary in aged animals argues against degenerational processes on a global scale. We therefore conclude that age-related alterations are composed of plastic-adaptive alterations in response to modified use and degenerational changes developing with age. As a consequence, age-related changes need not be irreversible but can be subject to amelioration through training and stimulation.

Changing practice in the assessment and treatment of somatosensory loss in stroke survivors: protocol for a knowledge translation study.

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Cahill, Liana S; Lannin, Natasha A; Mak-Yuen, Yvonne Y K; Turville, Megan L; Carey, Leeanne M

2018-01-23

The treatment of somatosensory loss in the upper limb after stroke has been historically overshadowed by therapy focused on motor recovery. A double-blind randomized controlled trial has demonstrated the effectiveness of SENSe (Study of the Effectiveness of Neurorehabilitation on Sensation) therapy to retrain somatosensory discrimination after stroke. Given the acknowledged prevalence of upper limb sensory loss after stroke and the evidence-practice gap that exists in this area, effort is required to translate the published research to clinical practice. The aim of this study is to determine whether evidence-based knowledge translation strategies change the practice of occupational therapists and physiotherapists in the assessment and treatment of sensory loss of the upper limb after stroke to improve patient outcomes. A pragmatic, before-after study design involving eight (n = 8) Australian health organizations, specifically sub-acute and community rehabilitation facilities. Stroke survivors (n = 144) and occupational therapists and physiotherapists (~10 per site, ~n = 80) will be involved in the study. Stroke survivors will be provided with SENSe therapy or usual care. Occupational therapists and physiotherapists will be provided with a multi-component approach to knowledge translation including i) tailoring of the implementation intervention to site-specific barriers and enablers, ii) interactive group training workshops, iii) establishing and fostering champion therapists and iv) provision of written educational materials and online resources. Outcome measures for occupational therapists and physiotherapists will be pre- and post-implementation questionnaires and audits of medical records. The primary outcome for stroke survivors will be change in upper limb somatosensory function, measured using a standardized composite measure. This study will provide evidence and a template for knowledge translation in clinical, organizational and policy contexts

Do patients with chronic unilateral orofacial pain due to a temporomandibular disorder show increased attending to somatosensory input at the painful side of the jaw?

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Van Damme, Stefaan; Vanden Bulcke, Charlotte; Van Den Berghe, Linda; Poppe, Louise; Crombez, Geert

2018-01-01

Patients with chronic orofacial pain due to temporomandibular disorders (TMD) display alterations in somatosensory processing at the jaw, such as amplified perception of tactile stimuli, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. This study investigated one possible explanation, namely hypervigilance, and tested if TMD patients with unilateral pain showed increased attending to somatosensory input at the painful side of the jaw. TMD patients with chronic unilateral orofacial pain ( n  = 20) and matched healthy volunteers ( n  = 20) performed a temporal order judgment (TOJ) task indicated which one of two tactile stimuli, presented on each side of the jaw, they had perceived first. TOJ methodology allows examining spatial bias in somatosensory processing speed. Furthermore, after each block of trials, the participants rated the perceived intensity of tactile stimuli separately for both sides of the jaw. Finally, questionnaires assessing pain catastrophizing, fear-avoidance beliefs, and pain vigilance, were completed. TMD patients tended to perceive tactile stimuli at the painful jaw side as occurring earlier in time than stimuli at the non-painful side but this effect did not reach conventional levels of significance ( p  = .07). In the control group, tactile stimuli were perceived as occurring simultaneously. Secondary analyses indicated that the magnitude of spatial bias in the TMD group is positively associated with the extent of fear-avoidance beliefs. Overall, intensity ratings of tactile stimuli were significantly higher in the TMD group than in the control group, but there was no significant difference between the painful and non-painful jaw side in the TMD patients. The hypothesis that TMD patients with chronic unilateral orofacial pain preferentially attend to somatosensory information at the painful side of the jaw was not statistically supported, although lack of power could not be ruled out as a reason for this. The findings are discussed within

Cited2 Regulates Neocortical Layer II/III Generation and Somatosensory Callosal Projection Neuron Development and Connectivity.

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Fame, Ryann M; MacDonald, Jessica L; Dunwoodie, Sally L; Takahashi, Emi; Macklis, Jeffrey D

2016-06-15

The neocortex contains hundreds to thousands of distinct subtypes of precisely connected neurons, allowing it to perform remarkably complex tasks of high-level cognition. Callosal projection neurons (CPN) connect the cerebral hemispheres via the corpus callosum, integrating cortical information and playing key roles in associative cognition. CPN are a strikingly diverse set of neuronal subpopulations, and development of this diversity requires precise control by a complex, interactive set of molecular effectors. We have found that the transcriptional coregulator Cited2 regulates and refines two stages of CPN development. Cited2 is expressed broadly by progenitors in the embryonic day 15.5 subventricular zone, during the peak of superficial layer CPN birth, with a progressive postmitotic refinement in expression, becoming restricted to CPN of the somatosensory cortex postnatally. We generated progenitor-stage and postmitotic forebrain-specific Cited2 conditional knock-out mice, using the Emx1-Cre and NEX-Cre mouse lines, respectively. We demonstrate that Cited2 functions in progenitors, but is not necessary postmitotically, to regulate both (1) broad generation of layer II/III CPN and (2) acquisition of precise area-specific molecular identity and axonal/dendritic connectivity of somatosensory CPN. This novel CPN subtype-specific and area-specific control from progenitor action of Cited2 adds yet another layer of complexity to the multistage developmental regulation of neocortical development. This study identifies Cited2 as a novel subtype-specific and area-specific control over development of distinct subpopulations within the broad population of callosal projection neurons (CPN), whose axons connect the two cerebral hemispheres via the corpus callosum (CC). Currently, how the remarkable diversity of CPN subtypes is specified, and how they differentiate to form highly precise and specific circuits, are largely unknown. We found that Cited2 functions within

[Normative aspects of somatosensory evoked P300 components].

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Louzã Neto, M R; Maurer, K; Neuhauser, B

1989-06-01

Using a somatosensory version of the oddball-paradigma the influence of age and gender on the P300-component and the comparison of the potential after stimulation of the right and left median nerve was studied in 30 healthy right handed volunteers (age: 20-35 years). Latency, amplitude, area and duration of the P300-potential were analysed. No relationship between age, gender and the P300-parameters were observed. The amplitude and the area of the potential obtained from the F3 electrode were greater after stimulation of the right median nerve compared to the potential after stimulation of the left median nerve. All other results were not significantly different. Strong positive correlations between the results after stimulation of the right and left median nerve were observed. These results showed that by a young group of volunteers age and gender did not influence the P300-component. Although the P300-Parameters had a between-subject variability, their mean remained constant over the study, their correlation coefficients were strong positive and the side of stimulation did not influence them (except for the electrode F3).

Improving the Application of High Molecular Weight Biotinylated Dextran Amine for Thalamocortical Projection Tracing in the Rat.

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Xu, Dongsheng; Cui, Jingjing; Wang, Jia; Zhang, Zhiyun; She, Chen; Bai, Wanzhu

2018-04-12

High molecular weight biotinylated dextran amine (BDA) has been used as a highly sensitive neuroanatomical tracer for many decades. Since the quality of its labeling was affected by various factors, here, we provide a refined protocol for the application of high molecular weight BDA for studying optimal neural labeling in the central nervous system. After stereotactic injection of BDA into the ventral posteromedial nucleus (VPM) of the thalamus in the rat through a delicate glass pipette, BDA was stained with fluorescent streptavidin-Alexa (AF) 594 and counterstained with fluorescent Nissl stain AF500/525. On the background of green Nissl staining, the red BDA labeling, including neuronal cell bodies and axonal terminals, was more distinctly demonstrated in the somatosensory cortex. Furthermore, double fluorescent staining for BDA and the calcium-binding protein parvalbumin (PV) was carried out to observe the correlation of BDA labeling and PV-positive interneurons in the cortical target, providing the opportunity to study the local neural circuits and their chemical characteristics. Thus, this refined method is not only suitable for visualizing high quality neural labeling with the high molecular weight BDA through reciprocal neural pathways between the thalamus and cerebral cortex, but also will permit the simultaneous demonstration of other neural markers with fluorescent histochemistry or immunochemistry.

Effect of epidural 0.25% bupivacaine on somatosensory evoked potentials to dermatomal stimulation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lund, C; Hansen, O B; Kehlet, H

1989-01-01

The effect of lumbar epidural analgesia with similar volumes (about 25 ml) of 0.25% and 0.5% bupivacaine on early (less than 0.5 seconds) somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) to electrical stimulation of the S1, L1, and T10 dermatomes was examined in two groups of ten patients. Level of sensory...... analgesia to pinprick was T5.7 +/- 0.8 and T6.4 +/- 0.7 in the 0.25% and 0.5% bupivacaine group, respectively. Motor blockade was more pronounced in the 0.5% bupivacaine group (p less than 0.05). Despite similar analgesia to pinprick, SEPs were more reduced during 0.5% bupivacaine than during 0...

Projections of Somatosensory Cortex and Frontal Eye Fields onto Incertotectal Neurons in the Cat

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Perkins, Eddie; Warren, Susan; Lin, Rick C.-S.; May, Paul J.

2014-01-01

The goal of this study was to determine whether the input-output characteristics of the zona incerta (ZI) are appropriate for it to serve as a conduit for cortical control over saccade-related activity in the superior colliculus. The study utilized the neuronal tracers wheat germ agglutinin-horseradish peroxidase (WGA-HRP) and biotinylated dextran amine (BDA) in the cat. Injections of WGA-HRP into primary somatosensory cortex (SI) revealed sparse, widespread nontopographic projections throughout ZI. In addition, region-specific areas of more intense termination were present in ventral ZI, although strict topography was not observed. In comparison, the frontal eye fields (FEF) also projected sparsely throughout ZI, but terminated more heavily, medially, along the border between the two sublaminae. Furthermore, retrogradely labeled incertocortical neurons were observed in both experiments. The relationship of these two cortical projections to incertotectal cells was also directly examined by retrogradely labeling incertotectal cells with WGA-HRP in animals that had also received cortical BDA injections. Labeled axonal arbors from both SI and FEF had thin, sparsely branched axons with numerous en passant boutons. They formed numerous close associations with the somata and dendrites of WGA-HRP-labeled incertotectal cells. In summary, these results indicate that both sensory and motor cortical inputs to ZI display similar morphologies and distributions. In addition, both display close associations with incertotectal cells, suggesting direct synaptic contact. From these data, we conclude that inputs from somatosensory and FEF cortex both play a role in controlling gaze-related activity in the superior colliculus by way of the inhibitory incertotectal projection. PMID:17083121

Variable Action Potential Backpropagation during Tonic Firing and Low-Threshold Spike Bursts in Thalamocortical But Not Thalamic Reticular Nucleus Neurons.

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Connelly, William M; Crunelli, Vincenzo; Errington, Adam C

2017-05-24

Backpropagating action potentials (bAPs) are indispensable in dendritic signaling. Conflicting Ca 2+ -imaging data and an absence of dendritic recording data means that the extent of backpropagation in thalamocortical (TC) and thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN) neurons remains unknown. Because TRN neurons signal electrically through dendrodendritic gap junctions and possibly via chemical dendritic GABAergic synapses, as well as classical axonal GABA release, this lack of knowledge is problematic. To address this issue, we made two-photon targeted patch-clamp recordings from rat TC and TRN neuron dendrites to measure bAPs directly. These recordings reveal that "tonic"' and low-threshold-spike (LTS) "burst" APs in both cell types are always recorded first at the soma before backpropagating into the dendrites while undergoing substantial distance-dependent dendritic amplitude attenuation. In TC neurons, bAP attenuation strength varies according to firing mode. During LTS bursts, somatic AP half-width increases progressively with increasing spike number, allowing late-burst spikes to propagate more efficiently into the dendritic tree compared with spikes occurring at burst onset. Tonic spikes have similar somatic half-widths to late burst spikes and undergo similar dendritic attenuation. In contrast, in TRN neurons, AP properties are unchanged between LTS bursts and tonic firing and, as a result, distance-dependent dendritic attenuation remains consistent across different firing modes. Therefore, unlike LTS-associated global electrical and calcium signals, the spatial influence of bAP signaling in TC and TRN neurons is more restricted, with potentially important behavioral-state-dependent consequences for synaptic integration and plasticity in thalamic neurons. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT In most neurons, action potentials (APs) initiate in the axosomatic region and propagate into the dendritic tree to provide a retrograde signal that conveys information about the level of

Rhythm generation through period concatenation in rat somatosensory cortex.

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Mark A Kramer

2008-09-01

Full Text Available Rhythmic voltage oscillations resulting from the summed activity of neuronal populations occur in many nervous systems. Contemporary observations suggest that coexistent oscillations interact and, in time, may switch in dominance. We recently reported an example of these interactions recorded from in vitro preparations of rat somatosensory cortex. We found that following an initial interval of coexistent gamma ( approximately 25 ms period and beta2 ( approximately 40 ms period rhythms in the superficial and deep cortical layers, respectively, a transition to a synchronous beta1 ( approximately 65 ms period rhythm in all cortical layers occurred. We proposed that the switch to beta1 activity resulted from the novel mechanism of period concatenation of the faster rhythms: gamma period (25 ms+beta2 period (40 ms = beta1 period (65 ms. In this article, we investigate in greater detail the fundamental mechanisms of the beta1 rhythm. To do so we describe additional in vitro experiments that constrain a biologically realistic, yet simplified, computational model of the activity. We use the model to suggest that the dynamic building blocks (or motifs of the gamma and beta2 rhythms combine to produce a beta1 oscillation that exhibits cross-frequency interactions. Through the combined approach of in vitro experiments and mathematical modeling we isolate the specific components that promote or destroy each rhythm. We propose that mechanisms vital to establishing the beta1 oscillation include strengthened connections between a population of deep layer intrinsically bursting cells and a transition from antidromic to orthodromic spike generation in these cells. We conclude that neural activity in the superficial and deep cortical layers may temporally combine to generate a slower oscillation.

Posterior insular cortex - a site of vestibular-somatosensory interaction?

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Baier, Bernhard; Zu Eulenburg, Peter; Best, Christoph; Geber, Christian; Müller-Forell, Wibke; Birklein, Frank; Dieterich, Marianne

2013-09-01

Background In previous imaging studies the insular cortex (IC) has been identified as an essential part of the processing of a wide spectrum of perception and sensorimotor integration. Yet, there are no systematic lesion studies in a sufficient number of patients examining whether processing of vestibular and the interaction of somatosensory and vestibular signals take place in the IC. Methods We investigated acute stroke patients with lesions affecting the IC in order to fill this gap. In detail, we explored signs of a vestibular tone imbalance such as the deviation of the subjective visual vertical (SVV). We applied voxel-lesion behaviour mapping analysis in 27 patients with acute unilateral stroke. Results Our data demonstrate that patients with lesions of the posterior IC have an abnormal tilt of SVV. Furthermore, re-analysing data of 20 patients from a previous study, we found a positive correlation between thermal perception contralateral to the stroke and the severity of the SVV tilt. Conclusions We conclude that the IC is a sensory brain region where different modalities might interact.

From acute to persistent low back pain: a longitudinal investigation of somatosensory changes using quantitative sensory testing—an exploratory study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anna Marcuzzi

2018-04-01

Conclusion:. Changes in mechanical pain sensitivity occurring in the subacute stage warrant further longitudinal evaluation to better understand the role of somatosensory changes in the development of persistent LBP. Pain-related cognitions at baseline distinguished persistent from the recovered LBP groups, emphasizing the importance of concurrent evaluation of psychological contributors in acute LBP.

Alpha-Band Brain Oscillations Shape the Processing of Perceptible as well as Imperceptible Somatosensory Stimuli during Selective Attention.

Science.gov (United States)

Forschack, Norman; Nierhaus, Till; Müller, Matthias M; Villringer, Arno

2017-07-19

Attention filters and weights sensory information according to behavioral demands. Stimulus-related neural responses are increased for the attended stimulus. Does alpha-band activity mediate this effect and is it restricted to conscious sensory events (suprathreshold), or does it also extend to unconscious stimuli (subthreshold)? To address these questions, we recorded EEG in healthy male and female volunteers undergoing subthreshold and suprathreshold somatosensory electrical stimulation to the left or right index finger. The task was to detect stimulation at the randomly alternated cued index finger. Under attention, amplitudes of somatosensory evoked potentials increased 50-60 ms after stimulation (P1) for both suprathreshold and subthreshold events. Prestimulus amplitude of peri-Rolandic alpha, that is mu, showed an inverse relationship to P1 amplitude during attention compared to when the finger was unattended. Interestingly, intermediate and high amplitudes of mu rhythm were associated with the highest P1 amplitudes during attention and smallest P1 during lack of attention, that is, these levels of alpha rhythm seemed to optimally support the behavioral goal ("detect" stimuli at the cued finger while ignoring the other finger). Our results show that attention enhances neural processing for both suprathreshold and subthreshold stimuli and they highlight a rather complex interaction between attention, Rolandic alpha activity, and their effects on stimulus processing. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Attention is crucial in prioritizing processing of relevant perceptible (suprathreshold) stimuli: it filters and weights sensory input. The present study investigates the controversially discussed question whether this attention effect extends to imperceptible (subthreshold) stimuli as well. We found noninvasive EEG signatures for attentional modulation of neural events following perceptible and imperceptible somatosensory stimulation in human participants. Specifically

Somatosensory Nerve Function, Measured by Vibration Thresholds in Asymptomatic Tennis Players: A Pilot Study

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Sarah Harrisson

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Tennis players are vulnerable to injury in their upper limbs due to the repetitive exposure to racket vibrations and torsional forces during play, leading to musculoskeletal adaptations in the dominant arm including some evidence of changes in nerve function (Colak et al., 2004. Vibration is a sensitive technique for diagnosing mild pathology in clinically asymptomatic participant groups. It has been used in participants with various musculoskeletal disorders (Laursen et al., 2006 (Tucker et al., 2007 showing widespread and bilateral increases in vibration threshold. Tests of somatosensory function by vibration will be abnormal prior to changes in nerve conduction velocity. Thus vibration testing in a sub-clinical group of participants may a more sensitive measure of nerve function compared to nerve conduction by electrodiagnostic testing. The aim of this pilot study was to conduct an exploratory investigation to establish whether tennis players have a reduction in their somatosensory nerve function compared to non- tennis playing controls. It also set out to compare the somatosensory nerve function of the dominant compared to the non-dominant upper limb in tennis players. Healthy tennis players (males, n = 8, females, n = 2, mean age 22 years and control non- tennis playing volunteers (males, n = 6, females, n = 4, mean age 22 years were recruited on an opportunistic basis from a tennis centre in London UK. Participants were excluded if they had any history of neurological impairment, serious injury or fracture or any arthritic condition affecting the upper limbs, cervical or thoracic spine. Control participants were excluded if it was deemed that they played a sport where there was exposure to repetitive use of the upper body. Ethical approval was obtained from the University College London Ethics Committee and all participants gave written informed consent. A preliminary clinical examination was carried out on all participants followed by

Somatosensory evoked potentials in the assessment of peripheral neuropathies: Commented results of a survey among French-speaking practitioners and recommendations for practice.

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Morizot-Koutlidis, R; André-Obadia, N; Antoine, J-C; Attarian, S; Ayache, S S; Azabou, E; Benaderette, S; Camdessanché, J-P; Cassereau, J; Convers, P; d'Anglejean, J; Delval, A; Durand, M-C; Etard, O; Fayet, G; Fournier, E; Franques, J; Gavaret, M; Guehl, D; Guerit, J-M; Krim, E; Kubis, N; Lacour, A; Lozeron, P; Mauguière, F; Merle, P-E; Mesrati, F; Mutschler, V; Nicolas, G; Nordine, T; Pautot, V; Péréon, Y; Petiot, P; Pouget, J; Praline, J; Salhi, H; Trébuchon, A; Tyvaert, L; Vial, C; Zola, J-M; Zyss, J; Lefaucheur, J-P

2015-05-01

Somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEPs) are increasingly performed for the assessment of peripheral neuropathies, but no practical guidelines have yet been established in this specific application. To determine the relevant indication criteria and optimal technical parameters for SSEP recording in peripheral neuropathy investigation. A survey was conducted among the French-speaking practitioners with experience of SSEP recording in the context of peripheral neuropathies. The results of the survey were analyzed and discussed to provide recommendations for practice. SSEPs appear to be a second-line test when electroneuromyographic investigation is not sufficiently conclusive, providing complementary and valuable information on central and proximal peripheral conduction in the somatosensory pathways. Guidelines for a standardized recording protocol, including the various parameters to be measured, are proposed. We hope that these proposals will help to recognize the value of this technique in peripheral neuropathy assessment in clinical practice. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Gating of the vertex somatosensory and auditory evoked potential P50 and the correlation to skin conductance orienting response in healthy men

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Arnfred, S M; Eder, D N; Hemmingsen, R P

2001-01-01

A defect in auditory evoked potential (AEP) P50 gating supports the theory of information-processing deficits in schizophrenia. The relationship between gating of the mid-latency evoked potentials (EP) in the somatosensory and the auditory modalities has not been studied together before. In schiz...

A combined method to estimate parameters of the thalamocortical model from a heavily noise-corrupted time series of action potential

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Ruofan; Wang, Jiang; Deng, Bin, E-mail: dengbin@tju.edu.cn; Liu, Chen; Wei, Xile [Department of Electrical and Automation Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin (China); Tsang, K. M.; Chan, W. L. [Department of Electrical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon (Hong Kong)

2014-03-15

A combined method composing of the unscented Kalman filter (UKF) and the synchronization-based method is proposed for estimating electrophysiological variables and parameters of a thalamocortical (TC) neuron model, which is commonly used for studying Parkinson's disease for its relay role of connecting the basal ganglia and the cortex. In this work, we take into account the condition when only the time series of action potential with heavy noise are available. Numerical results demonstrate that not only this method can estimate model parameters from the extracted time series of action potential successfully but also the effect of its estimation is much better than the only use of the UKF or synchronization-based method, with a higher accuracy and a better robustness against noise, especially under the severe noise conditions. Considering the rather important role of TC neuron in the normal and pathological brain functions, the exploration of the method to estimate the critical parameters could have important implications for the study of its nonlinear dynamics and further treatment of Parkinson's disease.

A combined method to estimate parameters of the thalamocortical model from a heavily noise-corrupted time series of action potential

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Ruofan; Wang, Jiang; Deng, Bin; Liu, Chen; Wei, Xile; Tsang, K. M.; Chan, W. L.

2014-01-01

A combined method composing of the unscented Kalman filter (UKF) and the synchronization-based method is proposed for estimating electrophysiological variables and parameters of a thalamocortical (TC) neuron model, which is commonly used for studying Parkinson's disease for its relay role of connecting the basal ganglia and the cortex. In this work, we take into account the condition when only the time series of action potential with heavy noise are available. Numerical results demonstrate that not only this method can estimate model parameters from the extracted time series of action potential successfully but also the effect of its estimation is much better than the only use of the UKF or synchronization-based method, with a higher accuracy and a better robustness against noise, especially under the severe noise conditions. Considering the rather important role of TC neuron in the normal and pathological brain functions, the exploration of the method to estimate the critical parameters could have important implications for the study of its nonlinear dynamics and further treatment of Parkinson's disease

A combined method to estimate parameters of the thalamocortical model from a heavily noise-corrupted time series of action potential

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Ruofan; Wang, Jiang; Deng, Bin; Liu, Chen; Wei, Xile; Tsang, K. M.; Chan, W. L.

2014-03-01

A combined method composing of the unscented Kalman filter (UKF) and the synchronization-based method is proposed for estimating electrophysiological variables and parameters of a thalamocortical (TC) neuron model, which is commonly used for studying Parkinson's disease for its relay role of connecting the basal ganglia and the cortex. In this work, we take into account the condition when only the time series of action potential with heavy noise are available. Numerical results demonstrate that not only this method can estimate model parameters from the extracted time series of action potential successfully but also the effect of its estimation is much better than the only use of the UKF or synchronization-based method, with a higher accuracy and a better robustness against noise, especially under the severe noise conditions. Considering the rather important role of TC neuron in the normal and pathological brain functions, the exploration of the method to estimate the critical parameters could have important implications for the study of its nonlinear dynamics and further treatment of Parkinson's disease.

Heightened sensitivity to somatosensory stimuli in anorexia nervosa: an exploratory study with the SASTCA scale.

Science.gov (United States)

Calvo Sagardoy, Rosa; Gallego Morales, Luis T; Kassem García, Soledad; Codesal Julián, Rosana; Blanco Fernández, Ascensión; Solórzano Ostolaza, Gloria; Morales Martínez, Carmen

2014-11-04

To analyse the presence of heightened sensory sensitivity in patients with anorexia nervosa, which seems similar but not identical to that described in patients with unexplained somatic symptoms or body dysmorphic disorder. We developed a sensory sensitivity scale in eating disorders (SASTCA), which measures the intensity of the response to specific somatosensory stimuli. The scale was completed by 48 patients with anorexia and a control group of 31 participants matched in age, sex and social and educational level. The results were compared with those obtained with the Barsky Somatosensory Amplification Scale (SSAS). The reliability (Cronbach's/alpha, 0.946; Guttman/ split-half, 0.936) and validity (ROC, 0.933) of the SASTCA scale are indicative of its high sensitivity and specificity. The anorexia group had a significantly higher mean score on the SASTCA scale than the control group (pscales correlated positively (r=.634). These preliminary results suggest the presence in Anorexia of heightened sensory sensitivity which differs from the sensitivity of the control group. This sensitivity has a significant relationship with that described in patients with somatic complaints about health (SSD) or appearance (BDD). Could this heightened sensory sensitivity help us to explain the process of forming the distorted body self-concept (I'm fat, sick, ugly) in all these patients? Once its presence has been confirmed in other patients with anorexia, their relatives and other patients with somatic disorders this heightened sensitivity could constitute the somatic endophenotype of anorexia? Copyright AULA MEDICA EDICIONES 2014. Published by AULA MEDICA. All rights reserved.

Do patients with chronic unilateral orofacial pain due to a temporomandibular disorder show increased attending to somatosensory input at the painful side of the jaw?

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Stefaan Van Damme

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Background Patients with chronic orofacial pain due to temporomandibular disorders (TMD display alterations in somatosensory processing at the jaw, such as amplified perception of tactile stimuli, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. This study investigated one possible explanation, namely hypervigilance, and tested if TMD patients with unilateral pain showed increased attending to somatosensory input at the painful side of the jaw. Methods TMD patients with chronic unilateral orofacial pain (n = 20 and matched healthy volunteers (n = 20 performed a temporal order judgment (TOJ task indicated which one of two tactile stimuli, presented on each side of the jaw, they had perceived first. TOJ methodology allows examining spatial bias in somatosensory processing speed. Furthermore, after each block of trials, the participants rated the perceived intensity of tactile stimuli separately for both sides of the jaw. Finally, questionnaires assessing pain catastrophizing, fear-avoidance beliefs, and pain vigilance, were completed. Results TMD patients tended to perceive tactile stimuli at the painful jaw side as occurring earlier in time than stimuli at the non-painful side but this effect did not reach conventional levels of significance (p = .07. In the control group, tactile stimuli were perceived as occurring simultaneously. Secondary analyses indicated that the magnitude of spatial bias in the TMD group is positively associated with the extent of fear-avoidance beliefs. Overall, intensity ratings of tactile stimuli were significantly higher in the TMD group than in the control group, but there was no significant difference between the painful and non-painful jaw side in the TMD patients. Discussion The hypothesis that TMD patients with chronic unilateral orofacial pain preferentially attend to somatosensory information at the painful side of the jaw was not statistically supported, although lack of power could not be ruled out as a

On the presence of high-order interactions among somatosensory neurons and their effect on information transmission

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ince, Robin A A; Montani, Fernando; Panzeri, Stefano; Arabzadeh, Ehsan; Diamond, Mathew E

2009-01-01

In order to understand how populations of neurons encode information about external correlates, it is important to develop minimal models of the probability of neural population responses which capture all the salient changes of neural responses with stimuli. In this context, it is particularly useful to determine whether interactions among neurons responding to stimuli can be described by a pairwise interaction model, or whether a higher order interaction model is needed. To address this question, we compared real neural population activity obtained from the rat somatosensory cortex to maximum-entropy models which take into account only interaction of up any given order. By performing these comparisons, we found that interactions of order two were sufficient to explain a large amount of observed stimulus-response distributions, but not all of them. Triple-wise interactions were necessary to fully explain the data. We then used Shannon information to compute the impact of high order correlations on the amount of somatosensory information transmitted by the neural population. We found that correlations of order two gave a good approximation of information carried by the neural population, within 4% of the true value. Third order correlations gave an even better approximation, within 2% of the true value. Taken together, these results suggest that higher order interactions exist and shape the dynamics of cortical networks, but play a quantitatively minor role in determining the information capacity of neural populations.

On the presence of high-order interactions among somatosensory neurons and their effect on information transmission

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ince, Robin A A [Faculty of Life Science, University of Manchester, 3.431 Stopford Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL (United Kingdom); Montani, Fernando; Panzeri, Stefano [Robotics, Brain, and Cognitive Sciences Department, Italian Institute of Technology, Via Morego 30, 16163 Genova (Italy); Arabzadeh, Ehsan [School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales (Australia); Diamond, Mathew E, E-mail: stefano.panzeri@iit.i [Cognitive Neuroscience Sector, International School for Advanced Studies, Trieste (Italy) and the SISSA Unit, Italian Institute of Technology, Trieste (Italy)

2009-12-01

In order to understand how populations of neurons encode information about external correlates, it is important to develop minimal models of the probability of neural population responses which capture all the salient changes of neural responses with stimuli. In this context, it is particularly useful to determine whether interactions among neurons responding to stimuli can be described by a pairwise interaction model, or whether a higher order interaction model is needed. To address this question, we compared real neural population activity obtained from the rat somatosensory cortex to maximum-entropy models which take into account only interaction of up any given order. By performing these comparisons, we found that interactions of order two were sufficient to explain a large amount of observed stimulus-response distributions, but not all of them. Triple-wise interactions were necessary to fully explain the data. We then used Shannon information to compute the impact of high order correlations on the amount of somatosensory information transmitted by the neural population. We found that correlations of order two gave a good approximation of information carried by the neural population, within 4% of the true value. Third order correlations gave an even better approximation, within 2% of the true value. Taken together, these results suggest that higher order interactions exist and shape the dynamics of cortical networks, but play a quantitatively minor role in determining the information capacity of neural populations.

Targeted deletion of Kcne2 impairs HCN channel function in mouse thalamocortical circuits.

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Shui-Wang Ying

Full Text Available Hyperpolarization-activated, cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN channels generate the pacemaking current, I(h, which regulates neuronal excitability, burst firing activity, rhythmogenesis, and synaptic integration. The physiological consequence of HCN activation depends on regulation of channel gating by endogenous modulators and stabilization of the channel complex formed by principal and ancillary subunits. KCNE2 is a voltage-gated potassium channel ancillary subunit that also regulates heterologously expressed HCN channels; whether KCNE2 regulates neuronal HCN channel function is unknown.We investigated the effects of Kcne2 gene deletion on I(h properties and excitability in ventrobasal (VB and cortical layer 6 pyramidal neurons using brain slices prepared from Kcne2(+/+ and Kcne2(-/- mice. Kcne2 deletion shifted the voltage-dependence of I(h activation to more hyperpolarized potentials, slowed gating kinetics, and decreased I(h density. Kcne2 deletion was associated with a reduction in whole-brain expression of both HCN1 and HCN2 (but not HCN4, although co-immunoprecipitation from whole-brain lysates failed to detect interaction of KCNE2 with HCN1 or 2. Kcne2 deletion also increased input resistance and temporal summation of subthreshold voltage responses; this increased intrinsic excitability enhanced burst firing in response to 4-aminopyridine. Burst duration increased in corticothalamic, but not thalamocortical, neurons, suggesting enhanced cortical excitatory input to the thalamus; such augmented excitability did not result from changes in glutamate release machinery since miniature EPSC frequency was unaltered in Kcne2(-/- neurons.Loss of KCNE2 leads to downregulation of HCN channel function associated with increased excitability in neurons in the cortico-thalamo-cortical loop. Such findings further our understanding of the normal physiology of brain circuitry critically involved in cognition and have implications for our understanding of

Neuromagnetic beta and gamma oscillations in the somatosensory cortex after music training in healthy older adults and a chronic stroke patient.

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Jamali, Shahab; Fujioka, Takako; Ross, Bernhard

2014-06-01

Extensive rehabilitation training can lead to functional improvement even years after a stroke. Although neuronal plasticity is considered as a main origin of such ameliorations, specific subtending mechanisms need further investigation. Our aim was to obtain objective neuromagnetic measures sensitive to brain reorganizations induced by a music-supported training. We applied 20-Hz vibrotactile stimuli to the index finger and the ring finger, recorded somatosensory steady-state responses with magnetoencephalography, and analyzed the cortical sources displaying oscillations synchronized with the external stimuli in two groups of healthy older adults before and after musical training or without training. In addition, we applied the same analysis for an anecdotic report of a single chronic stroke patient with hemiparetic arm and hand problems, who received music-supported therapy (MST). Healthy older adults showed significant finger separation within the primary somatotopic map. Beta dipole sources were more anterior located compared to gamma sources. An anterior shift of sources and increases in synchrony between the stimuli and beta and gamma oscillations were observed selectively after music training. In the stroke patient a normalization of somatotopic organization was observed after MST, with digit separation recovered after training and stimulus induced gamma synchrony increased. The proposed stimulation paradigm captures the integrity of primary somatosensory hand representation. Source position and synchronization between the stimuli and gamma activity are indices, sensitive to music-supported training. Responsiveness was also observed in a chronic stroke patient, encouraging for the music-supported therapy. Notably, changes in somatosensory responses were observed, even though the therapy did not involve specific sensory discrimination training. The proposed protocol can be used for monitoring changes in neuronal organization during training and will improve

On the use of information theory for the analysis of synchronous nociceptive withdrawal reflexes and somatosensory evoked potentials elicited by graded electrical stimulation.

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Arguissain, Federico G; Biurrun Manresa, José A; Mørch, Carsten D; Andersen, Ole K

2015-01-30

To date, few studies have combined the simultaneous acquisition of nociceptive withdrawal reflexes (NWR) and somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs). In fact, it is unknown whether the combination of these two signals acquired simultaneously could provide additional information on somatosensory processing at spinal and supraspinal level compared to individual NWR and SEP signals. By using the concept of mutual information (MI), it is possible to quantify the relation between electrical stimuli and simultaneous elicited electrophysiological responses in humans based on the estimated stimulus-response signal probability distributions. All selected features from NWR and SEPs were informative in regard to the stimulus when considered individually. Specifically, the information carried by NWR features was significantly higher than the information contained in the SEP features (pinformation carried by the combination of features showed an overall redundancy compared to the sum of the individual contributions. Comparison with existing methods MI can be used to quantify the information that single-trial NWR and SEP features convey, as well as the information carried jointly by NWR and SEPs. This is a model-free approach that considers linear and non-linear correlations at any order and is not constrained by parametric assumptions. The current study introduces a novel approach that allows the quantification of the individual and joint information content of single-trial NWR and SEP features. This methodology could be used to decode and interpret spinal and supraspinal interaction in studies modulating the responsiveness of the nociceptive system. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The reactivation of somatosensory cortex and behavioral recovery after sensory loss in mature primates

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Hui-Xin eQi

2014-05-01

Full Text Available In our experiments, we removed a major source of activation of somatosensory cortex in mature monkeys by unilaterally sectioning the sensory afferents in the dorsal columns of the spinal cord at a high cervical level. At this level, the ascending branches of tactile afferents from the hand are cut, while other branches of these afferents remain intact to terminate on neurons in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. Immediately after such a lesion, the monkeys seem relatively unimpaired in locomotion and often use the forelimb, but further inspection reveals that they prefer to use the unaffected hand in reaching for food. In addition, systematic testing indicates that they make more errors in retrieving pieces of food, and start using visual inspection of the rotated hand to confirm the success of the grasping of the food. Such difficulties are not surprising as a complete dorsal column lesion totally deactivates the contralateral hand representation in primary somatosensory cortex (area 3b. However, hand use rapidly improves over the first post-lesion weeks, and much of the hand representational territory in contralateral area 3b is reactivated by inputs from the hand in roughly a normal somatotopic pattern. Quantitative measures of single neuron response properties reveal that reactivated neurons respond to tactile stimulation on the hand with high firing rates and only slightly longer latencies. We conclude that preserved dorsal column afferents after nearly complete lesions contribute to the reactivation of cortex and the recovery of the behavior, but second-order sensory pathways in the spinal cord may also play an important role. Our microelectrode recordings indicate that these preserved first-order, and second-order pathways are initially weak and largely ineffective in activating cortex, but they are potentiated during the recovery process. Therapies that would promote this potentiation could usefully enhance recovery after spinal cord

Posterior insular cortex – a site of vestibular–somatosensory interaction?

Science.gov (United States)

Baier, Bernhard; zu Eulenburg, Peter; Best, Christoph; Geber, Christian; Müller-Forell, Wibke; Birklein, Frank; Dieterich, Marianne

2013-01-01

Background In previous imaging studies the insular cortex (IC) has been identified as an essential part of the processing of a wide spectrum of perception and sensorimotor integration. Yet, there are no systematic lesion studies in a sufficient number of patients examining whether processing of vestibular and the interaction of somatosensory and vestibular signals take place in the IC. Methods We investigated acute stroke patients with lesions affecting the IC in order to fill this gap. In detail, we explored signs of a vestibular tone imbalance such as the deviation of the subjective visual vertical (SVV). We applied voxel-lesion behaviour mapping analysis in 27 patients with acute unilateral stroke. Results Our data demonstrate that patients with lesions of the posterior IC have an abnormal tilt of SVV. Furthermore, re-analysing data of 20 patients from a previous study, we found a positive correlation between thermal perception contralateral to the stroke and the severity of the SVV tilt. Conclusions We conclude that the IC is a sensory brain region where different modalities might interact. PMID:24392273

Modulation of EEG spectral edge frequency during patterned pneumatic oral stimulation in preterm infants

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Dongli; Jegatheesan, Priya; Weiss, Sunshine; Govindaswami, Balaji; Wang, Jingyan; Lee, Jaehoon; Oder, Austin; Barlow, Steven M

2014-01-01

Background Stimulation of the nervous system plays a central role in brain development and neurodevelopmental outcome. Thalamocortical and corticocortical development is diminished in premature infants and correlated to electroencephalography (EEG) progression. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of orocutaneous stimulation on the modulation of spectral edge frequency, fc=90% (SEF-90) derived from EEG recordings in preterm infants. Methods Twenty two preterm infants were randomized to experimental and control conditions. Pulsed orocutaneous stimulation was presented during gavage feedings begun at around 32 weeks postmenstrual age (PMA). The SEF-90 was derived from 2-channel EEG recordings. Results Compared to the control condition, the pulsed orocutaneous stimulation produced a significant reorganization of SEF-90 in the left (p = 0.005) and right (p stimulation also produced a significant pattern of short term cortical adaptation and a long term neural adaptation manifest as a 0.5 Hz elevation in SEF-90 after repeated stimulation sessions. Conclusion This is the first study to demonstrate the modulating effects of a servo-controlled oral somatosensory input on the spectral features of EEG activity in preterm infants. PMID:24129553

Migration Pathways of Thalamic Neurons and Development of Thalamocortical Connections in Humans Revealed by Diffusion MR Tractography.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilkinson, Molly; Kane, Tara; Wang, Rongpin; Takahashi, Emi

2017-12-01

The thalamus plays an important role in signal relays in the brain, with thalamocortical (TC) neuronal pathways linked to various sensory/cognitive functions. In this study, we aimed to see fetal and postnatal development of the thalamus including neuronal migration to the thalamus and the emergence/maturation of the TC pathways. Pathways from/to the thalami of human postmortem fetuses and in vivo subjects ranging from newborns to adults with no neurological histories were studied using high angular resolution diffusion MR imaging (HARDI) tractography. Pathways likely linked to neuronal migration from the ventricular zone and ganglionic eminence (GE) to the thalami were both successfully detected. Between the ventricular zone and thalami, more tractography pathways were found in anterior compared with posterior regions, which was well in agreement with postnatal observations that the anterior TC segment had more tract count and volume than the posterior segment. Three different pathways likely linked to neuronal migration from the GE to the thalami were detected. No hemispheric asymmetry of the TC pathways was quantitatively observed during development. These results suggest that HARDI tractography is useful to identify multiple differential neuronal migration pathways in human brains, and regional differences in brain development in fetal ages persisted in postnatal development. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

An optimised procedure for prenatal ethanol exposure with determination of its effects on central nervous system connections.

Science.gov (United States)

Sbriccoli, A; Carretta, D; Santarelli, M; Granato, A; Minciacchi, D

1999-01-01

We describe the protocol set-up to investigate an experimental model of foetal alcohol syndrome in the rat. The protocol has been devised to expose specific cell populations of the central nervous system to ethanol during their neurogenesis and has been applied to the study of diencephalo-telencephalic connections. We were able to demonstrate specific permanent changes of the adult thalamo-cortical circuitry. Our protocol can be applied to study other aspects of central nervous system-ethanol interactions, such as neurotransmitter and receptor patterns. It can also represent a useful tool to test the effects of different diets to prevent nutritional deficiencies and the efficacy of drug treatments to prevent foetal alcohol syndrome. We have shown in fact that ethanol-induced thalamo-cortical alterations are partially prevented by concurrent administration of acetyl-L-carnitine. Finally, the present protocol can be used to investigate the effects of ethanol exposure on the development of different brain structures. To this purpose, the gestational period for ethanol exposure must be chosen according to the peak of neurogenesis for the investigated structure.

Functional reorganization of motor and limbic circuits after exercise training in a rat model of bilateral parkinsonism.

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Zhuo Wang

Full Text Available Exercise training is widely used for neurorehabilitation of Parkinson's disease (PD. However, little is known about the functional reorganization of the injured brain after long-term aerobic exercise. We examined the effects of 4 weeks of forced running wheel exercise in a rat model of dopaminergic deafferentation (bilateral, dorsal striatal 6-hydroxydopamine lesions. One week after training, cerebral perfusion was mapped during treadmill walking or at rest using [(14C]-iodoantipyrine autoradiography. Regional cerebral blood flow-related tissue radioactivity (rCBF was analyzed in three-dimensionally reconstructed brains by statistical parametric mapping. In non-exercised rats, lesions resulted in persistent motor deficits. Compared to sham-lesioned rats, lesioned rats showed altered functional brain activation during walking, including: 1. hypoactivation of the striatum and motor cortex; 2. hyperactivation of non-lesioned areas in the basal ganglia-thalamocortical circuit; 3. functional recruitment of the red nucleus, superior colliculus and somatosensory cortex; 4. hyperactivation of the ventrolateral thalamus, cerebellar vermis and deep nuclei, suggesting recruitment of the cerebellar-thalamocortical circuit; 5. hyperactivation of limbic areas (amygdala, hippocampus, ventral striatum, septum, raphe, insula. These findings show remarkable similarities to imaging findings reported in PD patients. Exercise progressively improved motor deficits in lesioned rats, while increasing activation in dorsal striatum and rostral secondary motor cortex, attenuating a hyperemia of the zona incerta and eliciting a functional reorganization of regions participating in the cerebellar-thalamocortical circuit. Both lesions and exercise increased activation in mesolimbic areas (amygdala, hippocampus, ventral striatum, laterodorsal tegmental n., ventral pallidum, as well as in related paralimbic regions (septum, raphe, insula. Exercise, but not lesioning, resulted

Functional Reorganization of Motor and Limbic Circuits after Exercise Training in a Rat Model of Bilateral Parkinsonism

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Zhuo; Myers, Kalisa G.; Guo, Yumei; Ocampo, Marco A.; Pang, Raina D.; Jakowec, Michael W.; Holschneider, Daniel P.

2013-01-01

Exercise training is widely used for neurorehabilitation of Parkinson’s disease (PD). However, little is known about the functional reorganization of the injured brain after long-term aerobic exercise. We examined the effects of 4 weeks of forced running wheel exercise in a rat model of dopaminergic deafferentation (bilateral, dorsal striatal 6-hydroxydopamine lesions). One week after training, cerebral perfusion was mapped during treadmill walking or at rest using [14C]-iodoantipyrine autoradiography. Regional cerebral blood flow-related tissue radioactivity (rCBF) was analyzed in three-dimensionally reconstructed brains by statistical parametric mapping. In non-exercised rats, lesions resulted in persistent motor deficits. Compared to sham-lesioned rats, lesioned rats showed altered functional brain activation during walking, including: 1. hypoactivation of the striatum and motor cortex; 2. hyperactivation of non-lesioned areas in the basal ganglia-thalamocortical circuit; 3. functional recruitment of the red nucleus, superior colliculus and somatosensory cortex; 4. hyperactivation of the ventrolateral thalamus, cerebellar vermis and deep nuclei, suggesting recruitment of the cerebellar-thalamocortical circuit; 5. hyperactivation of limbic areas (amygdala, hippocampus, ventral striatum, septum, raphe, insula). These findings show remarkable similarities to imaging findings reported in PD patients. Exercise progressively improved motor deficits in lesioned rats, while increasing activation in dorsal striatum and rostral secondary motor cortex, attenuating a hyperemia of the zona incerta and eliciting a functional reorganization of regions participating in the cerebellar-thalamocortical circuit. Both lesions and exercise increased activation in mesolimbic areas (amygdala, hippocampus, ventral striatum, laterodorsal tegmental n., ventral pallidum), as well as in related paralimbic regions (septum, raphe, insula). Exercise, but not lesioning, resulted in decreases

Biomimetic rehabilitation engineering: the importance of somatosensory feedback for brain-machine interfaces

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Perruchoud, David; Pisotta, Iolanda; Carda, Stefano; Murray, Micah M.; Ionta, Silvio

2016-08-01

Objective. Brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) re-establish communication channels between the nervous system and an external device. The use of BMI technology has generated significant developments in rehabilitative medicine, promising new ways to restore lost sensory-motor functions. However and despite high-caliber basic research, only a few prototypes have successfully left the laboratory and are currently home-deployed. Approach. The failure of this laboratory-to-user transfer likely relates to the absence of BMI solutions for providing naturalistic feedback about the consequences of the BMI’s actions. To overcome this limitation, nowadays cutting-edge BMI advances are guided by the principle of biomimicry; i.e. the artificial reproduction of normal neural mechanisms. Main results. Here, we focus on the importance of somatosensory feedback in BMIs devoted to reproducing movements with the goal of serving as a reference framework for future research on innovative rehabilitation procedures. First, we address the correspondence between users’ needs and BMI solutions. Then, we describe the main features of invasive and non-invasive BMIs, including their degree of biomimicry and respective advantages and drawbacks. Furthermore, we explore the prevalent approaches for providing quasi-natural sensory feedback in BMI settings. Finally, we cover special situations that can promote biomimicry and we present the future directions in basic research and clinical applications. Significance. The continued incorporation of biomimetic features into the design of BMIs will surely serve to further ameliorate the realism of BMIs, as well as tremendously improve their actuation, acceptance, and use.

Acute effect of carbamazepine on corticothalamic 5-9-Hz and thalamocortical spindle (10-16-Hz) oscillations in the rat.

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Zheng, Thomas W; O'Brien, Terence J; Kulikova, Sofya P; Reid, Christopher A; Morris, Margaret J; Pinault, Didier

2014-03-01

A major side effect of carbamazepine (CBZ), a drug used to treat neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders, is drowsiness, a state characterized by increased slow-wave oscillations with the emergence of sleep spindles in the electroencephalogram (EEG). We conducted cortical EEG and thalamic cellular recordings in freely moving or lightly anesthetized rats to explore the impact of CBZ within the intact corticothalamic (CT)-thalamocortical (TC) network, more specifically on CT 5-9-Hz and TC spindle (10-16-Hz) oscillations. Two to three successive 5-9-Hz waves were followed by a spindle in the cortical EEG. A single systemic injection of CBZ (20 mg/kg) induced a significant increase in the power of EEG 5-9-Hz oscillations and spindles. Intracellular recordings of glutamatergic TC neurons revealed 5-9-Hz depolarizing wave-hyperpolarizing wave sequences prolonged by robust, rhythmic spindle-frequency hyperpolarizing waves. This hybrid sequence occurred during a slow hyperpolarizing trough, and was at least 10 times more frequent under the CBZ condition than under the control condition. The hyperpolarizing waves reversed at approximately -70 mV, and became depolarizing when recorded with KCl-filled intracellular micropipettes, indicating that they were GABAA receptor-mediated potentials. In neurons of the GABAergic thalamic reticular nucleus, the principal source of TC GABAergic inputs, CBZ augmented both the number and the duration of sequences of rhythmic spindle-frequency bursts of action potentials. This indicates that these GABAergic neurons are responsible for the generation of at least the spindle-frequency hyperpolarizing waves in TC neurons. In conclusion, CBZ potentiates GABAA receptor-mediated TC spindle oscillations. Furthermore, we propose that CT 5-9-Hz waves can trigger TC spindles. © 2013 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Experience-induced plasticity of cutaneous maps in the primary somatosensory cortex of adult monkeys and rats.

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Xerri, C; Coq, J O; Merzenich, M M; Jenkins, W M

1996-01-01

In a first study, the representations of skin surfaces of the hand in the primary somatosensory cortex, area 3b, were reconstructed in owl monkeys and squirrel monkeys trained to pick up food pellets from small, shallow wells, a task which required skilled use of the digits. Training sessions included limited manual exercise over a total period of a few hours of practice. From an early clumsy performance in which many retrieval attempts were required for each successful pellet retrieval, the monkeys exhibited a gradual improvement. Typically, the animals used various combinations of digits before developing a successful retrieval strategy. As the behavior came to be stereotyped, monkeys consistently engaged surfaces of the distal phalanges of one or two digits in the palpation and capture of food pellets from the smallest wells. Microelectrode mapping of the hand surfaces revealed that the glabrous skin of the fingertips predominantly involved in the dexterity task was represented over topographically expanded cortical sectors. Furthermore, cutaneous receptive fields which covered the most frequently stimulated digital tip surfaces were less than half as large as were those representing the corresponding surfaces of control digits. In a second series of experiments, Long-Evans rats were assigned to environments promoting differential tactile experience (standard, enriched, and impoverished) for 80 to 115 days from the time of weaning. A fourth group of young adult rat experienced a severe restriction of forepaw exploratory movement for either 7 or 15 days. Cortical maps derived in the primary somatosensory cortex showed that environmental enrichment induced a substantial enlargement of the cutaneous forepaw representation, and improved its spatial resolution (smaller glabrous receptive fields). In contrast, tactile impoverishment resulted in a degradation of the forepaw representation that was characterized by larger cutaneous receptive fields and the emergence of

Confirmatory factor analysis and sample invariance of the Chinese version of Somatosensory Amplification Scale (ChSAS) among Chinese adolescents

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Tam, B. K.; Wong, W. S.

2011-01-01

Objective: This paper aimed to evaluate the factor structure of the Chinese version of Somatosensory Amplification Scale (ChSAS) in a sample of Chinese adolescents across different grade levels using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Methods: A total of 1991 Chinese adolescents completed the ChSAS. CFA assessed the fit of the one-factor model to the entire sample. Factorial invariance of the ChSAS was also examined across grade levels using multigroup CFA. Results: Results of CFA confirmed ...

Pudendal somatosensory evoked potentials in normal women

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Geraldo A. Cavalcanti

2007-12-01

Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: Somatosensory evoked potential (SSEP is an electrophysiological test used to evaluate sensory innervations in peripheral and central neuropathies. Pudendal SSEP has been studied in dysfunctions related to the lower urinary tract and pelvic floor. Although some authors have already described technical details pertaining to the method, the standardization and the influence of physiological variables in normative values have not yet been established, especially for women. The aim of the study was to describe normal values of the pudendal SSEP and to compare technical details with those described by other authors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The clitoral sensory threshold and pudendal SSEP latency was accomplished in 38 normal volunteers. The results obtained from stimulation performed on each side of the clitoris were compared to ages, body mass index (BMI and number of pregnancies. RESULTS: The values of clitoral sensory threshold and P1 latency with clitoral left stimulation were respectively, 3.64 ± 1.01 mA and 37.68 ± 2.60 ms. Results obtained with clitoral right stimulation were 3.84 ± 1.53 mA and 37.42 ± 3.12 ms, respectively. There were no correlations between clitoral sensory threshold and P1 latency with age, BMI or height of the volunteers. A significant difference was found in P1 latency between nulliparous women and volunteers who had been previously submitted to cesarean section. CONCLUSIONS: The SSEP latency represents an accessible and reproducible method to investigate the afferent pathways from the genitourinary tract. These results could be used as normative values in studies involving genitourinary neuropathies in order to better clarify voiding and sexual dysfunctions in females.

Functional connectivity between somatosensory and motor brain areas predicts individual differences in motor learning by observing.

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McGregor, Heather R; Gribble, Paul L

2017-08-01

Action observation can facilitate the acquisition of novel motor skills; however, there is considerable individual variability in the extent to which observation promotes motor learning. Here we tested the hypothesis that individual differences in brain function or structure can predict subsequent observation-related gains in motor learning. Subjects underwent an anatomical MRI scan and resting-state fMRI scans to assess preobservation gray matter volume and preobservation resting-state functional connectivity (FC), respectively. On the following day, subjects observed a video of a tutor adapting her reaches to a novel force field. After observation, subjects performed reaches in a force field as a behavioral assessment of gains in motor learning resulting from observation. We found that individual differences in resting-state FC, but not gray matter volume, predicted postobservation gains in motor learning. Preobservation resting-state FC between left primary somatosensory cortex and bilateral dorsal premotor cortex, primary motor cortex, and primary somatosensory cortex and left superior parietal lobule was positively correlated with behavioral measures of postobservation motor learning. Sensory-motor resting-state FC can thus predict the extent to which observation will promote subsequent motor learning. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We show that individual differences in preobservation brain function can predict subsequent observation-related gains in motor learning. Preobservation resting-state functional connectivity within a sensory-motor network may be used as a biomarker for the extent to which observation promotes motor learning. This kind of information may be useful if observation is to be used as a way to boost neuroplasticity and sensory-motor recovery for patients undergoing rehabilitation for diseases that impair movement such as stroke. Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.

High-order motor cortex in rats receives somatosensory inputs from the primary motor cortex via cortico-cortical pathways.

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Kunori, Nobuo; Takashima, Ichiro

2016-12-01

The motor cortex of rats contains two forelimb motor areas; the caudal forelimb area (CFA) and the rostral forelimb area (RFA). Although the RFA is thought to correspond to the premotor and/or supplementary motor cortices of primates, which are higher-order motor areas that receive somatosensory inputs, it is unknown whether the RFA of rats receives somatosensory inputs in the same manner. To investigate this issue, voltage-sensitive dye (VSD) imaging was used to assess the motor cortex in rats following a brief electrical stimulation of the forelimb. This procedure was followed by intracortical microstimulation (ICMS) mapping to identify the motor representations in the imaged cortex. The combined use of VSD imaging and ICMS revealed that both the CFA and RFA received excitatory synaptic inputs after forelimb stimulation. Further evaluation of the sensory input pathway to the RFA revealed that the forelimb-evoked RFA response was abolished either by the pharmacological inactivation of the CFA or a cortical transection between the CFA and RFA. These results suggest that forelimb-related sensory inputs would be transmitted to the RFA from the CFA via the cortico-cortical pathway. Thus, the present findings imply that sensory information processed in the RFA may be used for the generation of coordinated forelimb movements, which would be similar to the function of the higher-order motor cortex in primates. © 2016 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Postnatal Development of CB1 Receptor Expression in Rodent Somatosensory Cortex

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Deshmukh, Suvarna; Onozuka, Kaori; Bender, Kevin J.; Bender, Vanessa A.; Lutz, Beat; Mackie, Ken; Feldman, Daniel E.

2007-01-01

Endocannabinoids are powerful modulators of synaptic transmission that act on presynaptic cannabinoid receptors. Cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1) is the dominant receptor in the CNS, and is present in many brain regions, including sensory cortex. To investigate the potential role of CB1 receptors in cortical development, we examined the developmental expression of CB1 in rodent primary somatosensory (barrel) cortex, using immunohistochemistry with a CB1-specific antibody. We found that before postnatal day (P) 6, CB1 receptor staining was present exclusively in the cortical white matter, and that CB1 staining appeared in the grey matter between P6 and P20 in a specific laminar pattern. CB1 staining was confined to axons, and was most prominent in cortical layers 2/3, 5a, and 6. CB1 null (−/−) mice showed altered anatomical barrel maps in layer 4, with enlarged inter-barrel septa, but normal barrel size. These results indicate that CB1 receptors are present in early postnatal development and influence development of sensory maps. PMID:17210229

Long-term stability of sensitivity to intracortical microstimulation of somatosensory cortex

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Callier, Thierri; Schluter, Erik W.; Tabot, Gregg A.; Miller, Lee E.; Tenore, Francesco V.; Bensmaia, Sliman J.

2015-10-01

Objective. The dexterous manipulation of objects depends heavily on somatosensory signals from the limb. The development of anthropomorphic robotic arms and of algorithms to decode intended movements from neuronal signals has stimulated the need to restore somatosensation for use in upper-limb neuroprostheses. Without touch and proprioception, patients have difficulty controlling prosthetic limbs to a level that justifies the required invasive surgery. Intracortical microstimulation (ICMS) through chronically implanted electrode arrays has the potential to provide rich and intuitive sensory feedback. This approach to sensory restoration requires, however, that the evoked sensations remain stable over time. Approach. To investigate the stability of ICMS-evoked sensations, we measured the ability of non-human primates to detect ICMS over experimental sessions that spanned years. Main results. We found that the performance of the animals remained highly stable over time, even when they were tested with electrodes that had experienced extensive stimulation. Significance. Given the stability of the sensations that it evokes, ICMS may thus be a viable approach for sensory restoration.

Modulatory Effects of Dopamine D2 Receptors on Spreading Depression in Rat Somatosensory Neocortex

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Anna Maria Haarmann

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Spreading depression (SD is a propagating wave of depolarization followed by depression of the neuroglial activities and can modulate extracellular dopamine concentrations in the neocortex. It has been shown that the dopaminergic system plays a role in migraine. SD has been suggested as a critical phenomenon in the pathophysiology of migraine. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of dopamine D2 receptors on the characteristic features of SD in rat neocortical tissues. Methods: The effect of dopamine D2 receptor agonist quinpirole and D2 receptor antagonist sulpiride was tested on different characteristic features (amplitude, duration and velocity of KCl-induced SD in somatosensory neocortical slices of adult rats. The effect of above-mentioned substances on production of long-term potentiation (LTP in the neocortex was also evaluated. Results: The present data revealed a dose-dependent suppression of the amplitude and duration of SD in the presence of the dopamine D2 receptor antagonist sulpiride in the neocortex. D2 dopamine receptor agonist quinpirole dose-dependently enhanced the amplitude and duration of the neocortical SD. Furthermore, application of D2 receptor antagonist significantly suppressed induction of LTP. Discussion: These results indicate that D2 receptors modulate the initiation of SD in the neocortex. This finding refers to the potential role of D2 receptor antagonist in treatment of migraine pain.

POSSIBILITIES FOR ANTIEPILEPTIC DRUGS USE IN THE TREATMENT OF TIC HYPERKINESIS AND TOURETTE SYNDROME IN CHILDREN

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V. P. Zykov

2016-01-01

��P23 potentials amplitude, which reflects the decline in the activity of brain somatosensory system, represented by thalamo-cortical structures.Conclusion. Surface EMG and SSEP methods can be used for evaluation of treatment efficacy in cases of tic hyperkinesis and TS.

Decoding thalamic afferent input using microcircuit spiking activity.

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Sederberg, Audrey J; Palmer, Stephanie E; MacLean, Jason N

2015-04-01

A behavioral response appropriate to a sensory stimulus depends on the collective activity of thousands of interconnected neurons. The majority of cortical connections arise from neighboring neurons, and thus understanding the cortical code requires characterizing information representation at the scale of the cortical microcircuit. Using two-photon calcium imaging, we densely sampled the thalamically evoked response of hundreds of neurons spanning multiple layers and columns in thalamocortical slices of mouse somatosensory cortex. We then used a biologically plausible decoder to characterize the representation of two distinct thalamic inputs, at the level of the microcircuit, to reveal those aspects of the activity pattern that are likely relevant to downstream neurons. Our data suggest a sparse code, distributed across lamina, in which a small population of cells carries stimulus-relevant information. Furthermore, we find that, within this subset of neurons, decoder performance improves when noise correlations are taken into account. Copyright © 2015 the American Physiological Society.

Distinct Thalamic Reticular Cell Types Differentially Modulate Normal and Pathological Cortical Rhythms

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Alexandra Clemente-Perez

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Integrative brain functions depend on widely distributed, rhythmically coordinated computations. Through its long-ranging connections with cortex and most senses, the thalamus orchestrates the flow of cognitive and sensory information. Essential in this process, the nucleus reticularis thalami (nRT gates different information streams through its extensive inhibition onto other thalamic nuclei, however, we lack an understanding of how different inhibitory neuron subpopulations in nRT function as gatekeepers. We dissociated the connectivity, physiology, and circuit functions of neurons within rodent nRT, based on parvalbumin (PV and somatostatin (SOM expression, and validated the existence of such populations in human nRT. We found that PV, but not SOM, cells are rhythmogenic, and that PV and SOM neurons are connected to and modulate distinct thalamocortical circuits. Notably, PV, but not SOM, neurons modulate somatosensory behavior and disrupt seizures. These results provide a conceptual framework for how nRT may gate incoming information to modulate brain-wide rhythms.

Differences in the Electrophysiological Properties of Mouse Somatosensory Layer 2/3 Neurons In Vivo and Slice Stem from Intrinsic Sources Rather than a Network-Generated High Conductance State

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2018-01-01

Abstract Synaptic activity in vivo can potentially alter the integration properties of neurons. Using recordings in awake mice, we targeted somatosensory layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons and compared neuronal properties with those from slices. Pyramidal cells in vivo had lower resistance and gain values, as well as broader spikes and increased spike frequency adaptation compared to the same cells in slices. Increasing conductance in neurons using dynamic clamp to levels observed in vivo, however, did not lessen the differences between in vivo and slice conditions. Further, local application of tetrodotoxin (TTX) in vivo blocked synaptic-mediated membrane voltage fluctuations but had little impact on pyramidal cell membrane input resistance and time constant values. Differences in electrophysiological properties of layer 2/3 neurons in mouse somatosensory cortex, therefore, stem from intrinsic sources separate from synaptic-mediated membrane voltage fluctuations. PMID:29662946

Direct electrical stimulation of human cortex evokes high gamma activity that predicts conscious somatosensory perception

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Muller, Leah; Rolston, John D.; Fox, Neal P.; Knowlton, Robert; Rao, Vikram R.; Chang, Edward F.

2018-04-01

Objective. Direct electrical stimulation (DES) is a clinical gold standard for human brain mapping and readily evokes conscious percepts, yet the neurophysiological changes underlying these percepts are not well understood. Approach. To determine the neural correlates of DES, we stimulated the somatosensory cortex of ten human participants at frequency-amplitude combinations that both elicited and failed to elicit conscious percepts, meanwhile recording neural activity directly surrounding the stimulation site. We then compared the neural activity of perceived trials to that of non-perceived trials. Main results. We found that stimulation evokes distributed high gamma activity, which correlates with conscious perception better than stimulation parameters themselves. Significance. Our findings suggest that high gamma activity is a reliable biomarker for perception evoked by both natural and electrical stimuli.

Tactile-STAR: A Novel Tactile STimulator And Recorder System for Evaluating and Improving Tactile Perception.

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Ballardini, Giulia; Carlini, Giorgio; Giannoni, Psiche; Scheidt, Robert A; Nisky, Ilana; Casadio, Maura

2018-01-01

Many neurological diseases impair the motor and somatosensory systems. While several different technologies are used in clinical practice to assess and improve motor functions, somatosensation is evaluated subjectively with qualitative clinical scales. Treatment of somatosensory deficits has received limited attention. To bridge the gap between the assessment and training of motor vs. somatosensory abilities, we designed, developed, and tested a novel, low-cost, two-component (bimanual) mechatronic system targeting tactile somatosensation: the Tactile-STAR -a tactile stimulator and recorder. The stimulator is an actuated pantograph structure driven by two servomotors, with an end-effector covered by a rubber material that can apply two different types of skin stimulation: brush and stretch. The stimulator has a modular design, and can be used to test the tactile perception in different parts of the body such as the hand, arm, leg, big toe, etc. The recorder is a passive pantograph that can measure hand motion using two potentiometers. The recorder can serve multiple purposes: participants can move its handle to match the direction and amplitude of the tactile stimulator, or they can use it as a master manipulator to control the tactile stimulator as a slave. Our ultimate goal is to assess and affect tactile acuity and somatosensory deficits. To demonstrate the feasibility of our novel system, we tested the Tactile-STAR with 16 healthy individuals and with three stroke survivors using the skin-brush stimulation. We verified that the system enables the mapping of tactile perception on the hand in both populations. We also tested the extent to which 30 min of training in healthy individuals led to an improvement of tactile perception. The results provide a first demonstration of the ability of this new system to characterize tactile perception in healthy individuals, as well as a quantification of the magnitude and pattern of tactile impairment in a small cohort of

Different Mode of Afferents Determines the Frequency Range of High Frequency Activities in the Human Brain: Direct Electrocorticographic Comparison between Peripheral Nerve and Direct Cortical Stimulation.

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Katsuya Kobayashi

Full Text Available Physiological high frequency activities (HFA are related to various brain functions. Factors, however, regulating its frequency have not been well elucidated in humans. To validate the hypothesis that different propagation modes (thalamo-cortical vs. cortico-coritcal projections, or different terminal layers (layer IV vs. layer II/III affect its frequency, we, in the primary somatosensory cortex (SI, compared HFAs induced by median nerve stimulation with those induced by electrical stimulation of the cortex connecting to SI. We employed 6 patients who underwent chronic subdural electrode implantation for presurgical evaluation. We evaluated the HFA power values in reference to the baseline overriding N20 (earliest cortical response and N80 (late response of somatosensory evoked potentials (HFA(SEP(N20 and HFA(SEP(N80 and compared those overriding N1 and N2 (first and second responses of cortico-cortical evoked potentials (HFA(CCEP(N1 and HFA(CCEP(N2. HFA(SEP(N20 showed the power peak in the frequency above 200 Hz, while HFA(CCEP(N1 had its power peak in the frequency below 200 Hz. Different propagation modes and/or different terminal layers seemed to determine HFA frequency. Since HFA(CCEP(N1 and HFA induced during various brain functions share a similar broadband profile of the power spectrum, cortico-coritcal horizontal propagation seems to represent common mode of neural transmission for processing these functions.

Comparação das alterações do potencial evocado somatosensorial no tratamento cirúrgico da escoliose idiopática entre técnicas com e sem amarrilha sublaminar Comparación de las alteraciones del potencial evocado somatosensorial en el tratamiento quirúrgico de la escoliosis idiopática entre técnicas con y sin amarilla sublaminar Comparison of the somatosensory evoked potentials changes in the surgical treatment of idiopathic scoliosis between two techniques with and without sublaminar wiring

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Renato Hiroshi Salvioni Ueta

2010-09-01

ón medular por medio de PESS. RESULTADOS: en el Grupo II fue observada una frecuencia mayor de alteraciones del PESS, tanto en la amplitud como en la latencia de onda, durante y al final de la cirugía. En la serie revista, se constató un elevado porcentaje de resultados falsos-positivos. En ningún paciente fue observada cualquier alteración neurológica en el postoperatorio. CONCLUSIÓN: está en discusión cuál es el método más seguro para el tratamiento quirúrgico de la escoliosis idiopática. Los resultados presentados en este trabajo sugieren una menor incidencia de alteraciones en la monitorización neurofisiológica de la médula en los pacientes tratados por el sistema de Cotrel-Dubousset.OBJECTIVE: to compare the number of events with alteration in the somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP and its repercussion between different techniques of surgical treatment for idiopathic scoliosis, with and without sublaminar wiring. METHODS: twenty-five surgical procedures with flexible curves for treatment of idiopathic scoliosis were reviewed in the period of November 1996 to September 1999. They were divided into two groups: without sublaminar wiring (Cotrel-Dubousset's system (Group I; and with sublaminar wiring (Harrington-Luque's system and rectangle of Hartshill (Group II. In all surgeries, the intraoperative neurophysiologic monitoring with Somatosensory Evoked Potentials (SSEPs was used. RESULTS: according to the findings, a bigger frequency of monitoring changes was observed during and at the end of the surgery in Group II. A high incidence of false-negative changes was also verified. No patient with neurological damages was observed. CONCLUSION: There are still doubts about the safest method for the surgical treatment of idiopathic scoliosis. The results presented in this study suggest a smaller incidence of SSEPs changes in the patients treated with Cotrel-Dubousset's system.

[Intraoperative pain stimuli change somatosensory evoked potentials, but not auditory evoked potentials during isoflurane/nitrous oxide anesthesia].

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Rundshagen, I; Kochs, E; Bischoff, P; Schulte am Esch, J

1997-10-01

Evoked potentials are used for intraoperative monitoring to assess changes of cerebral function. This prospective randomised study assesses the influence of surgical stimulation on midlatency components of somatosensory (SEPs) and auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) in anaesthetised patients. After approval of the Ethics Committee and written informed consent 36 orthopaedic patients (34 +/- 15 y, 73 +/- 14 kg. 1.71 +/- 0.07 m, ASA I-II) were randomly included in the study. Anaesthesia was induced with 1.5 micrograms/kg fentanyl, 0.3 mg/kg etomidate and 0.1 mg/kg vecuronium. The lungs were intubated and patients normoventilated in steady state anaesthesia with isoflurane (end-tidal 0.6%) and 66% nitrous oxide. 18 patients (group 1) were assigned to the SEP group: median nerve stimulation, recording at Erb, C 6 and the contralateral somatosensory cortex (N20, P25, N35) vs Fz. AEPs were recorded in group 2 (n = 18): binaural stimulation, recording at Cz versus linked mastoid (V, Na, Pa, Nb). Recordings were performed during 30 min before the start of surgery (baseline: BL), at skin incision (SURG1) and at the preparation of the periost (SURG2). Heart rate, mean arterial blood pressure, oxygen saturation, endtidal pCO2 and isoflurane (PetISO) concentrations were registered simultaneously. Data were analysed by one-way analysis of variance. Post hoc comparison were made by Mann-Whitney U-Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test with p beats/min) to SURG2 (76 +/- 12 beats/min). Increases of amplitudes of midlatency SEP amplitudes indicate increased nociceptive signal transmission which is not blunted by isoflurane-nitrous oxide anaesthesia. In contrast, unchanged AEPs indicate adequate levels of the hypnotic components of anaesthesia.

Descending projections from the dysgranular zone of rat primary somatosensory cortex processing deep somatic input.

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Lee, Taehee; Kim, Uhnoh

2012-04-01

In the mammalian somatic system, peripheral inputs from cutaneous and deep receptors ascend via different subcortical channels and terminate in largely separate regions of the primary somatosensory cortex (SI). How these inputs are processed in SI and then projected back to the subcortical relay centers is critical for understanding how SI may regulate somatic information processing in the subcortex. Although it is now relatively well understood how SI cutaneous areas project to the subcortical structures, little is known about the descending projections from SI areas processing deep somatic input. We examined this issue by using the rodent somatic system as a model. In rat SI, deep somatic input is processed mainly in the dysgranular zone (DSZ) enclosed by the cutaneous barrel subfields. By using biotinylated dextran amine (BDA) as anterograde tracer, we characterized the topography of corticostriatal and corticofugal projections arising in the DSZ. The DSZ projections terminate mainly in the lateral subregions of the striatum that are also known as the target of certain SI cutaneous areas. This suggests that SI processing of deep and cutaneous information may be integrated, to a certain degree, in this striatal region. By contrast, at both thalamic and prethalamic levels as far as the spinal cord, descending projections from DSZ terminate in areas largely distinguishable from those that receive input from SI cutaneous areas. These subcortical targets of DSZ include not only the sensory but also motor-related structures, suggesting that SI processing of deep input may engage in regulating somatic and motor information flow between the cortex and periphery. Copyright © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Early impairment of somatosensory evoked potentials in very young children with achondroplasia with foramen magnum stenosis.

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Fornarino, Stefania; Rossi, Daniela Paola; Severino, Mariasavina; Pistorio, Angela; Allegri, Anna Elsa Maria; Martelli, Simona; Doria Lamba, Laura; Lanteri, Paola

2017-02-01

To evaluate the contribution of somatosensory evoked potentials after median nerve (MN-SEPs) and posterior tibial nerve (PTN-SEPs) stimulation in functional assessment of cervical and lumbar spinal stenosis in children with achondroplasia. We reviewed MN-SEPs, PTN-SEPs, and spinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations performed in 58 patients with achondroplasia (25 males, 33 females; age range 21d-16y 10mo; mean age 4y 3mo [SD 4y 1mo]). Patients were subdivided into four age categories: achondroplasia, the cortical component of PTN-SEPs is more sensitive than the cortical component and central conduction time of MN-SEPs in detection of cervical spinal cord compression at early ages. © 2016 Mac Keith Press.

Adaptation in human somatosensory cortex as a model of sensory memory construction: a study using high-density EEG.

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Bradley, Claire; Joyce, Niamh; Garcia-Larrea, Luis

2016-01-01

Adaptation in sensory cortices has been seen as a mechanism allowing the creation of transient memory representations. Here we tested the adapting properties of early responses in human somatosensory areas SI and SII by analysing somatosensory-evoked potentials over the very first repetitions of a stimulus. SI and SII generators were identified by well-defined scalp potentials and source localisation from high-density 128-channel EEG. Earliest responses (~20 ms) from area 3b in the depth of the post-central gyrus did not show significant adaptation to stimuli repeated at 300 ms intervals. In contrast, responses around 45 ms from the crown of the gyrus (areas 1 and 2) rapidly lessened to a plateau and abated at the 20th stimulation, and activities from SII in the parietal operculum at ~100 ms displayed strong adaptation with a steady amplitude decrease from the first repetition. Although responses in both SI (1-2) and SII areas showed adapting properties and hence sensory memory capacities, evidence of sensory mismatch detection has been demonstrated only for responses reflecting SII activation. This may index the passage from an early form of sensory storage in SI to more operational memory codes in SII, allowing the prediction of forthcoming input and the triggering of a specific signal when such input differs from the previous sequence. This is consistent with a model whereby the length of temporal receptive windows increases with progression in the cortical hierarchy, in parallel with the complexity and abstraction of neural representations.

More than skin deep: body representation beyond primary somatosensory cortex.

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Longo, Matthew R; Azañón, Elena; Haggard, Patrick

2010-02-01

The neural circuits underlying initial sensory processing of somatic information are relatively well understood. In contrast, the processes that go beyond primary somatosensation to create more abstract representations related to the body are less clear. In this review, we focus on two classes of higher-order processing beyond somatosensation. Somatoperception refers to the process of perceiving the body itself, and particularly of ensuring somatic perceptual constancy. We review three key elements of somatoperception: (a) remapping information from the body surface into an egocentric reference frame, (b) exteroceptive perception of objects in the external world through their contact with the body, and (c) interoceptive percepts about the nature and state of the body itself. Somatorepresentation, in contrast, refers to the essentially cognitive process of constructing semantic knowledge and attitudes about the body, including: (d) lexical-semantic knowledge about bodies generally and one's own body specifically, (e) configural knowledge about the structure of bodies, (f) emotions and attitudes directed towards one's own body, and (g) the link between physical body and psychological self. We review a wide range of neuropsychological, neuroimaging and neurophysiological data to explore the dissociation between these different aspects of higher somatosensory function. 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Triangular relationship between sleep spindle activity, general cognitive ability and the efficiency of declarative learning.

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Caroline Lustenberger

Full Text Available EEG sleep spindle activity (SpA during non-rapid eye movement (NREM sleep has been reported to be associated with measures of intelligence and overnight performance improvements. The reticular nucleus of the thalamus is generating sleep spindles in interaction with thalamocortical connections. The same system enables efficient encoding and processing during wakefulness. Thus, we examined if the triangular relationship between SpA, measures of intelligence and declarative learning reflect the efficiency of the thalamocortical system. As expected, SpA was associated with general cognitive ability, e.g. information processing speed. SpA was also associated with learning efficiency, however, not with overnight performance improvement in a declarative memory task. SpA might therefore reflect the efficiency of the thalamocortical network and can be seen as a marker for learning during encoding in wakefulness, i.e. learning efficiency.

Trastorno Somatosensorial en niños con Trastornos por Déficit de Atención con Hiperactividad.

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Romero Ayuso, Dulce María

2016-01-01

Introducción: El estudio de los trastornos por déficit de atención (ADHD) se ha centrado en la falta de control inhibitorio como déficit primario, aunque su fisiopatología también se ha relacionado con la corteza somatosensorial. El objetivo de este trabajo fue conocer si existe un trastorno para la discriminación sensorial táctil y praxis en los niños con ADHD y si éste es similar en los subtipos inatento (ADHD-I) y combinado (ADHD-C). Método: los participantes fueron 74 niños entre 7 y 11 a...

Transient receptor potential channel polymorphisms are associated with the somatosensory function in neuropathic pain patients.

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Andreas Binder

Full Text Available Transient receptor potential channels are important mediators of thermal and mechanical stimuli and play an important role in neuropathic pain. The contribution of hereditary variants in the genes of transient receptor potential channels to neuropathic pain is unknown. We investigated the frequency of transient receptor potential ankyrin 1, transient receptor potential melastin 8 and transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 single nucleotide polymorphisms and their impact on somatosensory abnormalities in neuropathic pain patients. Within the German Research Network on Neuropathic Pain (Deutscher Forscbungsverbund Neuropathischer Schmerz 371 neuropathic pain patients were phenotypically characterized using standardized quantitative sensory testing. Pyrosequencing was employed to determine a total of eleven single nucleotide polymorphisms in transient receptor potential channel genes of the neuropathic pain patients and a cohort of 253 German healthy volunteers. Associations of quantitative sensory testing parameters and single nucleotide polymorphisms between and within groups and subgroups, based on sensory phenotypes, were analyzed. Single nucleotide polymorphisms frequencies did not differ between both the cohorts. However, in neuropathic pain patients transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 710G>A (rs920829, E179K was associated with the presence of paradoxical heat sensation (p = 0.03, and transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 1911A>G (rs8065080, I585V with cold hypoalgesia (p = 0.0035. Two main subgroups characterized by preserved (1 and impaired (2 sensory function were identified. In subgroup 1 transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 1911A>G led to significantly less heat hyperalgesia, pinprick hyperalgesia and mechanical hypaesthesia (p = 0.006, p = 0.005 and pG (rs222747, M315I to cold hypaesthesia (p = 0.002, but there was absence of associations in subgroup 2. In this study we found no evidence that genetic

Abnormalities of somatosensory perception in patients with painful osteoarthritis normalize following successful treatment.

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Kosek, E; Ordeberg, G

2000-01-01

To investigate the effect of chronic nociceptive pain on somatosensory perception, quantitative sensibility testing was performed in the most painful area and the homologous contralateral side in 14 patients with painful osteoarthritis of the hip. Twelve patients were reassessed in a painfree state 6-14 months following surgery. Von Frey filaments were used to test low-threshold mechanoreceptive function. Pressure pain sensitivity was assessed with a pressure algometer and thermal sensitivity with a Thermotest. Sex- and age-matched controls were examined in the corresponding areas at similar time intervals. There was no statistically significant difference between groups in the sensitivity to light touch and innocuous cold in either session. Compared to controls, patients had increased sensitivity to pressure pain in the most painful area (p pain (ppain (p = 0.054) before surgery. In the painful area, patients' sensitivity to pressure pain decreased (p pain. Copyright 2000 European Federation of Chapters of the International Association for the Study of Pain.

Inhibitory Mechanisms in Primary Somatosensory Cortex Mediate the Effects of Peripheral Electrical Stimulation on Tactile Spatial Discrimination.

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Saito, Kei; Otsuru, Naofumi; Inukai, Yasuto; Kojima, Sho; Miyaguchi, Shota; Tsuiki, Shota; Sasaki, Ryoki; Onishi, Hideaki

2018-06-01

Selective afferent activation can be used to improve somatosensory function, possibly by altering cortical inhibitory circuit activity. Peripheral electrical stimulation (PES) is widely used to induce selective afferent activation, and its effect may depend on PES intensity. Therefore, we investigated the effects of high- and low-intensity PES applied to the right index finger on tactile discrimination performance and cortical sensory-evoked potential paired-pulse depression (SEP-PPD) in 25 neurologically healthy subjects. In Experiment 1, a grating orientation task (GOT) was performed before and immediately after local high- and low-intensity PES (both delivered as 1-s, 20-Hz trains of 0.2-ms electrical pulses at 5-s intervals). In Experiment 2, PPD of SEP components N20/P25_SEP-PPD and N20_SEP-PPD, respectively, were assessed before and immediately after high- and low-intensity PES. Improved GOT discrimination performance after high-intensity PES (reduced discrimination threshold) was associated with lower baseline performance (higher baseline discrimination threshold). Subjects were classified into low and high (baseline) GOT performance groups. Improved GOT discrimination performance in the low GOT performance group was significantly associated with a greater N20_SEP-PPD decrease (weaker PPD). Subjects were also classified into GOT improvement and GOT decrement groups. High-intensity PES decreased N20_SEP-PPD in the GOT improvement group but increased N20_SEP-PPD in the GOT decrement group. Furthermore, a greater decrease in GOT discrimination threshold was significantly associated with a greater N20_SEP-PPD decrease in the GOT improvement group. These results suggest that high-intensity PES can improve sensory perception in subjects with low baseline function by modulating cortical inhibitory circuits in primary somatosensory cortex. Copyright © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Opposing Effects of Maternal Hypo- and Hyperthyroidism on the Stability of Thalamocortical Synapses in the Visual Cortex of Adult Offspring.

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Strobl, Marie-Therese J; Freeman, Daniel; Patel, Jenica; Poulsen, Ryan; Wendler, Christopher C; Rivkees, Scott A; Coleman, Jason E

2017-05-01

Insufficient or excessive thyroid hormone (TH) levels during fetal development can cause long-term neurological and cognitive problems. Studies in animal models of perinatal hypo- and hyperthyroidism suggest that these problems may be a consequence of the formation of maladaptive circuitry in the cerebral cortex, which can persist into adulthood. Here we used mouse models of maternal hypo- and hyperthyroidism to investigate the long-term effects of altering thyroxine (T4) levels during pregnancy (corresponding to embryonic days 6.5-18.5) on thalamocortical (TC) axon dynamics in adult offspring. Because perinatal hypothyroidism has been linked to visual processing deficits in humans, we performed chronic two-photon imaging of TC axons and boutons in primary visual cortex (V1). We found that a decrease or increase in maternal serum T4 levels was associated with atypical steady-state dynamics of TC axons and boutons in V1 of adult offspring. Hypothyroid offspring exhibited axonal branch and bouton dynamics indicative of an abnormal increase in TC connectivity, whereas changes in hyperthyroid offspring were indicative of an abnormal decrease in TC connectivity. Collectively, our data suggest that alterations to prenatal T4 levels can cause long-term synaptic instability in TC circuits, which could impair early stages of visual processing. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Serial recording of median nerve stimulated subcortical somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) in developing brain death.

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Buchner, H; Ferbert, A; Hacke, W

1988-01-01

Subcortical somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) to median nerve stimulation were recorded serially in 35 patients during the evolution towards brain death and in brain death. Neuropathological alterations of the central nervous system down to the C1/C2 spinal cord segment in brain death are well known. SEP components supposed to be generated above this level should be lost in brain death, while components generated below should not be altered. Erb's point, scalp and neck potentials were recorded at C3/4, or over the spinous process C7, using an Fz reference. In 10 patients additional montages, including spinous process C2-Fz, a non-cephalic reference (Fz-contralateral shoulder) and a posterior to anterior neck montage (spinous process C7-jugulum) were used. The cephalic referenced N9 and N11 peaks remained unchanged until brain death. N9 and N11 decreased in parallel in amplitude and increased in latency after systemic effects like hypoxia or hypothermia occurred. The cephalic referenced 'N14' decreased in amplitude and increased in latency after the clinical brain death syndrome was observed, while N13 in the posterior to anterior neck montage remained unchanged. The alteration of 'N14' went parallel to the decrease of the P14 amplitude. The subcortical SEPs in the cephalic referenced lead are supposed to be a peak composed by a horizontally orientated dorsal horn generated N13 and a rostrally orientated P14 arising at the level of the foramen magnum. The deterioration of the non-cephalic referenced P14 and of its cephalic referenced reflection 'N14' seems to provide an additional objective criterion for the diagnosis of brain death.

Effect of sensory and motor connectivity on hand function in pediatric hemiplegia.

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Gupta, Disha; Barachant, Alexandre; Gordon, Andrew M; Ferre, Claudio; Kuo, Hsing-Ching; Carmel, Jason B; Friel, Kathleen M

2017-11-01

We tested the hypothesis that somatosensory system injury would more strongly affect movement than motor system injury in children with unilateral cerebral palsy (USCP). This hypothesis was based on how somatosensory and corticospinal circuits adapt to injury during development; whereas the motor system can maintain connections to the impaired hand from the uninjured hemisphere, this does not occur in the somatosensory system. As a corollary, cortical injury strongly impairs sensory function, so we hypothesized that cortical lesions would impair hand function more than subcortical lesions. Twenty-four children with unilateral cerebral palsy had physiological and anatomical measures of the motor and somatosensory systems and lesion classification. Motor physiology was performed with transcranial magnetic stimulation and somatosensory physiology with vibration-evoked electroencephalographic potentials. Tractography of the corticospinal tract and the medial lemniscus was performed with diffusion tensor imaging, and lesions were classified by magnetic resonance imaging. Anatomical and physiological results were correlated with measures of hand function using 2 independent statistical methods. Children with disruptions in the somatosensory connectivity and cortical lesions had the most severe upper extremity impairments, particularly somatosensory function. Motor system connectivity was significantly correlated with bimanual function, but not unimanual function or somatosensory function. Both sensory and motor connectivity impact hand function in children with USCP. Somatosensory connectivity could be an important target for recovery of hand function in children with USCP. Ann Neurol 2017;82:766-780. © 2017 American Neurological Association.

Persistent Neuronal Firing in Primary Somatosensory Cortex in the Absence of Working Memory of Trial-Specific Features of the Sample Stimuli in a Haptic Working Memory Task

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Wang, Liping; Li, Xianchun; Hsiao, Steven S.; Bodner, Mark; Lenz, Fred; Zhou, Yong-Di

2012-01-01

Previous studies suggested that primary somatosensory (SI) neurons in well-trained monkeys participated in the haptic-haptic unimodal delayed matching-to-sample (DMS) task. In this study, 585 SI neurons were recorded in monkeys performing a task that was identical to that in the previous studies but without requiring discrimination and active…

Distinction between added-energy and phase-resetting mechanisms in non-invasively detected somatosensory evoked responses.

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Fedele, T; Scheer, H-J; Burghoff, M; Waterstraat, G; Nikulin, V V; Curio, G

2013-01-01

Non-invasively recorded averaged event-related potentials (ERP) represent a convenient opportunity to investigate human brain perceptive and cognitive processes. Nevertheless, generative ERP mechanisms are still debated. Two previous approaches have been contested in the past: the added-energy model in which the response raises independently from the ongoing background activity, and the phase-reset model, based on stimulus-driven synchronization of oscillatory ongoing activity. Many criteria for the distinction of these two models have been proposed, but there is no definitive methodology to disentangle them, owing also to the limited information at the single trial level. Here, we propose a new approach combining low-noise EEG technology and multivariate decomposition techniques. We present theoretical analyses based on simulated data and identify in high-frequency somatosensory evoked responses an optimal target for the distinction between the two mechanisms.

Insulin-Independent GABAA Receptor-Mediated Response in the Barrel Cortex of Mice with Impaired Met Activity.

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Lo, Fu-Sun; Erzurumlu, Reha S; Powell, Elizabeth M

2016-03-30

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by genetic variants, susceptibility alleles, and environmental perturbations. The autism associated geneMETtyrosine kinase has been implicated in many behavioral domains and endophenotypes of autism, including abnormal neural signaling in human sensory cortex. We investigated somatosensory thalamocortical synaptic communication in mice deficient in Met activity in cortical excitatory neurons to gain insights into aberrant somatosensation characteristic of ASD. The ratio of excitation to inhibition is dramatically increased due to decreased postsynaptic GABAAreceptor-mediated inhibition in the trigeminal thalamocortical pathway of mice lacking active Met in the cerebral cortex. Furthermore, in contrast to wild-type mice, insulin failed to increase GABAAreceptor-mediated response in the barrel cortex of mice with compromised Met signaling. Thus, lacking insulin effects may be a risk factor in ASD pathogenesis. A proposed common cause of neurodevelopmental disorders is an imbalance in excitatory neural transmission, provided by the glutamatergic neurons, and the inhibitory signals from the GABAergic interneurons. Many genes associated with autism spectrum disorders impair synaptic transmission in the expected cell type. Previously, inactivation of the autism-associated Met tyrosine kinase receptor in GABAergic interneurons led to decreased inhibition. In thus report, decreased Met signaling in glutamatergic neurons had no effect on excitation, but decimated inhibition. Further experiments indicate that loss of Met activity downregulates GABAAreceptors on glutamatergic neurons in an insulin independent manner. These data provide a new mechanism for the loss of inhibition and subsequent abnormal excitation/inhibition balance and potential molecular candidates for treatment or prevention. Copyright © 2016 the authors 0270-6474/16/363691-07$15.00/0.

Delineation of somatosensory finger areas using vibrotactile stimulation, an ECoG study.

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Wahnoun, Rémy; Benson, Michelle; Helms-Tillery, Stephen; Adelson, P David

2015-10-01

In surgical planning for epileptic focus resection, functional mapping of eloquent cortex is attained through direct electrical stimulation of the brain. This procedure is uncomfortable, can trigger seizures or nausea, and relies on subjective evaluation. We hypothesize that a method combining vibrotactile stimulation and statistical clustering may provide improved somatosensory mapping. Seven pediatric candidates for surgical resection underwent a task in which their fingers were independently stimulated using a custom designed finger pad, during electrocorticographic monitoring. A cluster-based statistical analysis was then performed to localize the elicited activity on the recording grids. Mid-Gamma clusters (65-115 Hz) arose in areas consistent with anatomical predictions as well as clinical findings, with five subjects presenting a somatotopic organization of the fingers. This process allowed us to delineate finger representation even in patients who were sleeping, with strong interictal activity, or when electrical stimulation did not successfully locate eloquent areas. We suggest that this scheme, relying on the endogenous neural response rather than exogenous electrical activation, could eventually be extended to map other sensory areas and provide a faster and more objective map to better anticipate outcomes of surgical resection.

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Targeting Primary Motor Versus Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortices: Proof-of-Concept Study Investigating Functional Connectivity of Thalamocortical Networks Specific to Sensory-Affective Information Processing.

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Sankarasubramanian, Vishwanath; Cunningham, David A; Potter-Baker, Kelsey A; Beall, Erik B; Roelle, Sarah M; Varnerin, Nicole M; Machado, Andre G; Jones, Stephen E; Lowe, Mark J; Plow, Ela B

2017-04-01

The pain matrix is comprised of an extensive network of brain structures involved in sensory and/or affective information processing. The thalamus is a key structure constituting the pain matrix. The thalamus serves as a relay center receiving information from multiple ascending pathways and relating information to and from multiple cortical areas. However, it is unknown how thalamocortical networks specific to sensory-affective information processing are functionally integrated. Here, in a proof-of-concept study in healthy humans, we aimed to understand this connectivity using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) targeting primary motor (M1) or dorsolateral prefrontal cortices (DLPFC). We compared changes in functional connectivity (FC) with DLPFC tDCS to changes in FC with M1 tDCS. FC changes were also compared to further investigate its relation with individual's baseline experience of pain. We hypothesized that resting-state FC would change based on tDCS location and would represent known thalamocortical networks. Ten right-handed individuals received a single application of anodal tDCS (1 mA, 20 min) to right M1 and DLPFC in a single-blind, sham-controlled crossover study. FC changes were studied between ventroposterolateral (VPL), the sensory nucleus of thalamus, and cortical areas involved in sensory information processing and between medial dorsal (MD), the affective nucleus, and cortical areas involved in affective information processing. Individual's perception of pain at baseline was assessed using cutaneous heat pain stimuli. We found that anodal M1 tDCS and anodal DLPFC tDCS both increased FC between VPL and sensorimotor cortices, although FC effects were greater with M1 tDCS. Similarly, anodal M1 tDCS and anodal DLPFC tDCS both increased FC between MD and motor cortices, but only DLPFC tDCS modulated FC between MD and affective cortices, like DLPFC. Our findings suggest that M1 stimulation primarily modulates FC of sensory networks

HAL® exoskeleton training improves walking parameters and normalizes cortical excitability in primary somatosensory cortex in spinal cord injury patients.

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Sczesny-Kaiser, Matthias; Höffken, Oliver; Aach, Mirko; Cruciger, Oliver; Grasmücke, Dennis; Meindl, Renate; Schildhauer, Thomas A; Schwenkreis, Peter; Tegenthoff, Martin

2015-08-20

Reorganization in the sensorimotor cortex accompanied by increased excitability and enlarged body representations is a consequence of spinal cord injury (SCI). Robotic-assisted bodyweight supported treadmill training (BWSTT) was hypothesized to induce reorganization and improve walking function. To assess whether BWSTT with hybrid assistive limb® (HAL®) exoskeleton affects cortical excitability in the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) in SCI patients, as measured by paired-pulse somatosensory evoked potentials (ppSEP) stimulated above the level of injury. Eleven SCI patients took part in HAL® assisted BWSTT for 3 months. PpSEP were conducted before and after this training period, where the amplitude ratios (SEP amplitude following double pulses - SEP amplitude following single pulses) were assessed and compared to eleven healthy control subjects. To assess improvement in walking function, we used the 10-m walk test, timed-up-and-go test, the 6-min walk test, and the lower extremity motor score. PpSEPs were significantly increased in SCI patients as compared to controls at baseline. Following training, ppSEPs were increased from baseline and no longer significantly differed from controls. Walking parameters also showed significant improvements, yet there was no significant correlation between ppSEP measures and walking parameters. The findings suggest that robotic-assisted BWSTT with HAL® in SCI patients is capable of inducing cortical plasticity following highly repetitive, active locomotive use of paretic legs. While there was no significant correlation of excitability with walking parameters, brain areas other than S1 might reflect improvement of walking functions. EEG and neuroimaging studies may provide further information about supraspinal plastic processes and foci in SCI rehabilitation.

Posterior Thalamic Nucleus Modulation of Tactile Stimuli Processing in Rat Motor and Primary Somatosensory Cortices

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Diana Casas-Torremocha

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Rodents move rhythmically their facial whiskers and compute differences between signals predicted and those resulting from the movement to infer information about objects near their head. These computations are carried out by a large network of forebrain structures that includes the thalamus and the primary somatosensory (S1BF and motor (M1wk cortices. Spatially and temporally precise mechanorreceptive whisker information reaches the S1BF cortex via the ventroposterior medial thalamic nucleus (VPM. Other whisker-related information may reach both M1wk and S1BF via the axons from the posterior thalamic nucleus (Po. However, Po axons may convey, in addition to direct sensory signals, the dynamic output of computations between whisker signals and descending motor commands. It has been proposed that this input may be relevant for adjusting cortical responses to predicted vs. unpredicted whisker signals, but the effects of Po input on M1wk and S1BF function have not been directly tested or compared in vivo. Here, using electrophysiology, optogenetics and pharmacological tools, we compared in adult rats M1wk and S1BF in vivo responses in the whisker areas of the motor and primary somatosensory cortices to passive multi-whisker deflection, their dependence on Po activity, and their changes after a brief intense activation of Po axons. We report that the latencies of the first component of tactile-evoked local field potentials in M1wk and S1BF are similar. The evoked potentials decrease markedly in M1wk, but not in S1BF, by injection in Po of the GABAA agonist muscimol. A brief high-frequency electrical stimulation of Po decreases the responsivity of M1wk and S1BF cells to subsequent whisker stimulation. This effect is prevented by the local application of omega-agatoxin, suggesting that it may in part depend on GABA release by fast-spiking parvalbumin (PV-expressing cortical interneurons. Local optogenetic activation of Po synapses in different

High field FMRI reveals thalamocortical integration of segregated cognitive and emotional processing in mediodorsal and intralaminar thalamic nuclei.

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Metzger, C D; Eckert, U; Steiner, J; Sartorius, A; Buchmann, J E; Stadler, J; Tempelmann, C; Speck, O; Bogerts, B; Abler, B; Walter, M

2010-01-01

Thalamocortical loops, connecting functionally segregated, higher order cortical regions, and basal ganglia, have been proposed not only for well described motor and sensory regions, but also for limbic and prefrontal areas relevant for affective and cognitive processes. These functions are, however, more specific to humans, rendering most invasive neuroanatomical approaches impossible and interspecies translations difficult. In contrast, non-invasive imaging of functional neuroanatomy using fMRI allows for the development of elaborate task paradigms capable of testing the specific functionalities proposed for these circuits. Until recently, spatial resolution largely limited the anatomical definition of functional clusters at the level of distinct thalamic nuclei. Since their anatomical distinction seems crucial not only for the segregation of cognitive and limbic loops but also for the detection of their functional interaction during cognitive-emotional integration, we applied high resolution fMRI on 7 Tesla. Using an event-related design, we could isolate thalamic effects for preceding attention as well as experience of erotic stimuli. We could demonstrate specific thalamic effects of general emotional arousal in mediodorsal nucleus and effects specific to preceding attention and expectancy in intralaminar centromedian/parafascicular complex. These thalamic effects were paralleled by specific coactivations in the head of caudate nucleus as well as segregated portions of rostral or caudal cingulate cortex and anterior insula supporting distinct thalamo-striato-cortical loops. In addition to predescribed effects of sexual arousal in hypothalamus and ventral striatum, high resolution fMRI could extent this network to paraventricular thalamus encompassing laterodorsal and parataenial nuclei. We could lend evidence to segregated subcortical loops which integrate cognitive and emotional aspects of basic human behavior such as sexual processing.

A case of multiple system atrophy-parkinsonian type with stuttering- and palilalia-like dysfluencies and putaminal atrophy.

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Kikuchi, Yoshikazu; Umezaki, Toshiro; Uehara, Taira; Yamaguchi, Hiroo; Yamashita, Koji; Hiwatashi, Akio; Sawatsubashi, Motohiro; Adachi, Kazuo; Yamaguchi, Yumi; Murakami, Daisuke; Kira, Jun-Ichi; Nakagawa, Takashi

2017-11-14

Both developmental and acquired stuttering are related to the function of the basal ganglia-thalamocortical loop, which includes the putamen. Here, we present a case of stuttering- and palilalia-like dysfluencies that manifested as an early symptom of multiple system atrophy-parkinsonian type (MSA-P) and bilateral atrophy of the putamen. The patient was a 72-year-old man with no history of developmental stuttering who presented with a stutter for consultation with our otorhinolaryngology department. The patient was diagnosed with MSA-P based on parkinsonism, autonomic dysfunction, and bilateral putaminal atrophy revealed by T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. Treatment with levodopa improved both the motor functional deficits related to MSA-P and stuttering-like dysfluencies while reading; however, the palilalia-like dysfluencies were much less responsive to levodopa therapy. The patient died of aspiration pneumonia two years after his first consultation at our hospital. In conclusion, adult-onset stuttering- and palilalia-like dysfluencies warrant careful examination of the basal ganglia-thalamocortical loop, and especially the putamen, using neuroimaging techniques. Acquired stuttering may be related to deficits in dopaminergic function. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An investigation of somatosensory profiles in work related upper limb disorders: a case-control observational study protocol.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Moloney, Niamh

2010-01-01

BACKGROUND: Work related upper limb disorders constitute 45% of all occupational diseases and are a significant public health problem. A subgroup, non specific arm pain (NSAP), remains elusive in terms of understanding its pathophysiological mechanisms with its diagnosis based on the absence of specific clinical findings. One commonly proposed theory is that a neural tissue disorder is the primary dysfunction in NSAP and findings from previous studies lend some support to this theory. However, it is not clear if changes identified are simply a consequence of ongoing pain rather than due to specific neural changes. The presence of neuropathic pain has been investigated in several other musculoskeletal conditions but currently, there is no specific diagnostic tool or gold standard which permits an unequivocal diagnosis of neuropathic pain. The purpose of this study is to further describe the somatosensory profiles in patients with NSAP and to compare these profiles to a group of patients with MRI confirmed cervical radiculopathy who have been previously classified as having neuropathic pain. METHODS\\/DESIGN: Three groups of participants will be investigated: Groups 1 and 2 will be office workers with either NSAP or cervical radiculopathy and Group 3 will be a control group of non office workers without upper limb pain. Participants will undergo a clinical assessment, pain questionnaires (LANSS, Short Form McGill, DASH and TSK) and quantitative sensory testing comprising thermal detection and pain thresholds, vibration thresholds and pressure pain thresholds. DISCUSSION: The spectrum of clinically suspected neuropathic pain ranges from more obvious conditions such as trigeminal neuralgia to those with vague signs of nerve disorder such as NSAP. A thorough description of the somatosensory profiles of NSAP patients and a comparison with a more defined group of patients with evidence of neuropathic pain will help in the understanding of underlying neurophysiology in

An investigation of somatosensory profiles in work related upper limb disorders: a case-control observational study protocol

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Hall Toby

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Work related upper limb disorders constitute 45% of all occupational diseases and are a significant public health problem. A subgroup, non specific arm pain (NSAP, remains elusive in terms of understanding its pathophysiological mechanisms with its diagnosis based on the absence of specific clinical findings. One commonly proposed theory is that a neural tissue disorder is the primary dysfunction in NSAP and findings from previous studies lend some support to this theory. However, it is not clear if changes identified are simply a consequence of ongoing pain rather than due to specific neural changes. The presence of neuropathic pain has been investigated in several other musculoskeletal conditions but currently, there is no specific diagnostic tool or gold standard which permits an unequivocal diagnosis of neuropathic pain. The purpose of this study is to further describe the somatosensory profiles in patients with NSAP and to compare these profiles to a group of patients with MRI confirmed cervical radiculopathy who have been previously classified as having neuropathic pain. Methods/Design Three groups of participants will be investigated: Groups 1 and 2 will be office workers with either NSAP or cervical radiculopathy and Group 3 will be a control group of non office workers without upper limb pain. Participants will undergo a clinical assessment, pain questionnaires (LANSS, Short Form McGill, DASH and TSK and quantitative sensory testing comprising thermal detection and pain thresholds, vibration thresholds and pressure pain thresholds. Discussion The spectrum of clinically suspected neuropathic pain ranges from more obvious conditions such as trigeminal neuralgia to those with vague signs of nerve disorder such as NSAP. A thorough description of the somatosensory profiles of NSAP patients and a comparison with a more defined group of patients with evidence of neuropathic pain will help in the understanding of underlying

Anticipation increases tactile stimulus processing in the ipsilateral primary somatosensory cortex.

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van Ede, Freek; de Lange, Floris P; Maris, Eric

2014-10-01

Stimulus anticipation improves perception. To account for this improvement, we investigated how stimulus processing is altered by anticipation. In contrast to a large body of previous work, we employed a demanding perceptual task and investigated sensory responses that occur beyond early evoked activity in contralateral primary sensory areas: Stimulus-induced modulations of neural oscillations. For this, we recorded magnetoencephalography in 19 humans while they performed a cued tactile identification task involving the identification of either a proximal or a distal stimulation on the fingertips. We varied the cue-target interval between 0 and 1000 ms such that tactile targets occurred at various degrees of anticipation. This allowed us to investigate the influence of anticipation on stimulus processing in a parametric fashion. We observed that anticipation increases the stimulus-induced response (suppression of beta-band oscillations) originating from the ipsilateral primary somatosensory cortex. This occurs in the period in which the tactile memory trace is analyzed and is correlated with the anticipation-induced improvement in tactile perception. We propose that this ipsilateral response indicates distributed processing across bilateral primary sensory cortices, of which the extent increases with anticipation. This constitutes a new and potentially important mechanism contributing to perception and its improvement following anticipation. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Autistic spectrum disorders as functional disconnection syndrome.

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Melillo, Robert; Leisman, Gerry

2009-01-01

We outline the basis of how functional disconnection with reduced activity and coherence in the right hemisphere would explain all of the symptoms of autistic spectrum disorder as well as the observed increases in sympathetic activation. If the problem of autistic spectrum disorder is primarily one of desynchronization and ineffective interhemispheric communication, then the best way to address the symptoms is to improve coordination between areas of the brain. To do that the best approach would include multimodal therapeusis that would include a combination of somatosensory, cognitive, behavioral, and biochemical interventions all directed at improving overall health, reducing inflammation and increasing right hemisphere activity to the level that it becomes temporally coherent with the left hemisphere. We hypothesize that the unilateral increased hemispheric stimulation has the effect of increasing the temporal oscillations within the thalamocortical pathways bringing it closer to the oscillation rate of the adequately functioning hemisphere. We propose that increasing the baseline oscillation speed of one entire hemisphere will enhance the coordination and coherence between the two hemispheres allowing for enhanced motor and cognitive binding.

Somatosensory evoked changes in cerebral oxygen consumption measured non-invasively in premature neonates

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Roche-Labarbe, Nadege; Fenoglio, Angela; Radakrishnan, Harsha; Kocienski-Filip, Marcia; Carp, Stefan A.; Dubb, Jay; Boas, David A.; Grant, P. Ellen; Franceschini, Maria Angela

2013-01-01

The hemodynamic functional response is used as a reliable marker of neuronal activity in countless studies of brain function and cognition. In newborns and infants, however, conflicting results have appeared in the literature concerning the typical response, and there is little information on brain metabolism and functional activation. Measurement of all hemodynamic components and oxygen metabolism is critical for understanding neurovascular coupling in the developing brain. To this end, we combined multiple near infrared spectroscopy techniques to measure oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin concentrations, cerebral blood volume (CBV), and relative cerebral blood flow (CBF) in the somatosensory cortex of 6 preterm neonates during passive tactile stimulation of the hand. By combining these measures we estimated relative changes in the cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen consumption (rCMRO2). CBF starts increasing immediately after stimulus onset, and returns to baseline before blood volume. This is consistent with the model of pre-capillary arteriole active dilation driving the CBF response, with a subsequent CBV increase influenced by capillaries and veins dilating passively to accommodate the extra blood. rCMRO2 estimated using the steady-state formulation shows a biphasic pattern: an increase immediately after stimulus onset, followed by a post-stimulus undershoot due to blood flow returning faster to baseline than oxygenation. However, assuming a longer mean transit time from the arterial to the venous compartment, due to the immature vascular system of premature infants, reduces the post-stimulus undershoot and increases the flow/consumption ratio to values closer to adult values reported in the literature. We are the first to report changes in local rCBF and rCMRO2 during functional activation in preterm infants. The ability to measure these variables in addition to hemoglobin concentration changes is critical for understanding neurovascular coupling in the developing

Lateralized delay period activity marks the focus of spatial attention in working memory: evidence from somatosensory event-related brain potentials.

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Katus, Tobias; Eimer, Martin

2015-04-29

The short-term retention of sensory information in working memory (WM) is known to be associated with a sustained enhancement of neural activity. What remains controversial is whether this neural trace indicates the sustained storage of information or the allocation of attention. To evaluate the storage and attention accounts, we examined sustained tactile contralateral delay activity (tCDA component) of the event-related potential. The tCDA manifests over somatosensory cortex contralateral to task-relevant tactile information during stimulus retention. Two tactile sample sets (S1, S2) were presented sequentially, separated by 1.5 s. Each set comprised two stimuli, one per hand. Human participants memorized the location of one task-relevant stimulus per sample set and judged whether one of these locations was stimulated again at memory test. The two relevant pulses were unpredictably located on the same hand (stay trials) or on different hands (shift trials). Initially, tCDA components emerged contralateral to the relevant S1 pulse. Sequential loading of WM enhanced the tCDA after S2 was presented on stay trials. On shift trials, the tCDA's polarity reversed after S2 presentation, resulting in delay activity that was now contralateral to the task-relevant S2 pulse. The disappearance of a lateralized neural trace for the relevant S1 pulse did not impair memory accuracy for this stimulus on shift trials. These results contradict the storage account and suggest that delay period activity indicates the sustained engagement of an attention-based rehearsal mechanism. In conclusion, somatosensory delay period activity marks the current focus of attention in tactile WM. Copyright © 2015 the authors 0270-6474/15/356689-07$15.00/0.

Effects of Ketamine on Neuronal Spontaneous Excitatory Postsynaptic Currents and Miniature Excitatory Postsynaptic Currents in the Somatosensory Cortex of Rats

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Chengdong Yuan

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Background: Ketamine is a commonly used intravenous anesthetic which produces dissociation anesthesia, analgesia, and amnesia. The mechanism of ketamine-induced synaptic inhibition in high-level cortical areas is still unknown. We aimed to elucidate the effects of different concentrations of ketamine on the glutamatergic synaptic transmission of the neurons in the primary somatosensory cortex by using the whole-cell patch-clamp method. Methods: Sprague-Dawley rats (11–19 postnatal days, n=36 were used to obtain brain slices (300 μM. Spontaneous excitatory postsynaptic currents (data from 40 neurons were recorded at a command potential of -70 mV in the presence of bicuculline (a competitive antagonist of GABAA receptors, 30 μM and strychnine (glycine receptor antagonist, 30 μM. Miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents (data from 40 neurons were also recorded when 1 μM of tetrodotoxin was added into the artificial cerebrospinal fluid. We used GraphPad Prism5for statistical analysis. Significant differences in the mean amplitude and frequency were tested using the Student paired 2-tailed t test. Values of P<0.05 were considered significant. Results: Different concentrations of ketamine inhibited the frequency and amplitude of the spontaneous excitatory postsynaptic currents as well as the amplitude of the miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents in a concentration-dependent manner, but they exerted no significant effect on the frequency of the miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents. Conclusion: Ketamine inhibited the excitatory synaptic transmission of the neurons in the primary somatosensory cortex. The inhibition may have been mediated by a reduction in the sensitivity of the postsynaptic glutamatergic receptors.

Central Somatosensory Networks Respond to a De Novo Innervated Penis: A Proof of Concept in Three Spina Bifida Patients.

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Kortekaas, Rudie; Nanetti, Luca; Overgoor, Max L E; de Jong, Bauke M; Georgiadis, Janniko R

2015-09-01

Spina bifida (SB) causes low spinal lesions, and patients often have absent genital sensation and a highly impaired sex life. TOMAX (TO MAX-imize sensation, sexuality and quality of life) is a surgical procedure whereby the penis is newly innervated using a sensory nerve originally targeting the inguinal area. Most TOMAX-treated SB patients initially experience penile stimulation as inguinal sensation, but eventually, the perception shifts to penis sensation with erotic feelings. The brain mechanisms mediating this perceptual shift, which are completely unknown, could hold relevance for understanding the brain's role in sexual development. The aim of this study was to study how a newly perceived penis would be mapped onto the brain after a lifelong disconnection. Three TOMAX-treated SB patients participated in a functional magnetic resonance imagery experiment while glans penis, inguinal area, and index finger were stimulated with a paint brush. Brush stimulation-induced activation of the primary somatosensory cortex (SI) and functional connectivity between SI and remote cerebral regions. Stimulation of the re-innervated side of the glans penis and the intact contralateral inguinal area activated a very similar location on SI. Yet, connectivity analysis identified distinct SI functional networks. In all three subjects, the middle cingulate cortex (MCC) and the parietal operculum-insular cortex (OIC) were functionally connected to SI activity during glans penis stimulation, but not to SI activity induced by inguinal stimulation. Investigating central somatosensory network activity to a de novo innervated penis in SB patients is feasible and informative. The consistent involvement of MCC and OIC above and beyond the brain network expected on the basis of inguinal stimulation suggests that these areas mediate the novel penis sensation in these patients. The potential role of MCC and OIC in this process is discussed, along with recommendations for further research. �

Morphometric analysis of feedforward pathways from the primary somatosensory area (S1 of rats

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A.L. de Sá

2016-01-01

Full Text Available We used biotinylated dextran amine (BDA to anterogradely label individual axons projecting from primary somatosensory cortex (S1 to four different cortical areas in rats. A major goal was to determine whether axon terminals in these target areas shared morphometric similarities based on the shape of individual terminal arbors and the density of two bouton types: en passant (Bp and terminaux (Bt. Evidence from tridimensional reconstructions of isolated axon terminal fragments (n=111 did support a degree of morphological heterogeneity establishing two broad groups of axon terminals. Morphological parameters associated with the complexity of terminal arbors and the proportion of beaded Bp vs stalked Bt were found to differ significantly in these two groups following a discriminant function statistical analysis across axon fragments. Interestingly, both groups occurred in all four target areas, possibly consistent with a commonality of presynaptic processing of tactile information. These findings lay the ground for additional work aiming to investigate synaptic function at the single bouton level and see how this might be associated with emerging properties in postsynaptic targets.

Deletion of ENTPD3 does not impair nucleotide hydrolysis in primary somatosensory neurons or spinal cord [v1; ref status: indexed, http://f1000r.es/3rm

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Eric McCoy

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Ectonucleotidases are membrane-bound or secreted proteins that hydrolyze extracellular nucleotides.  Recently, we identified three ectonucleotidases that hydrolyze extracellular adenosine 5’-monophosphate (AMP to adenosine in primary somatosensory neurons.  Currently, it is unclear which ectonucleotidases hydrolyze ATP and ADP in these neurons.  Ectonucleoside triphosphate diphosphohydrolases (ENTPDs comprise a class of enzymes that dephosphorylate extracellular ATP and ADP.  Here, we found that ENTPD3 (also known as NTPDase3 or CD39L3 was located in nociceptive and non-nociceptive neurons of the dorsal root ganglion (DRG, in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord, and in free nerve endings in the skin.  To determine if ENTPD3 contributes directly to ATP and ADP hydrolysis in these tissues, we generated and characterized an Entpd3 knockout mouse.  This mouse lacks ENTPD3 protein in all tissues examined, including the DRG, spinal cord, skin, and bladder.  However, DRG and spinal cord tissues from Entpd3-/- mice showed no reduction in histochemical staining when ATP, ADP, AMP, or UTP were used as substrates.  Additionally, using fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV, adenosine production was not impaired in the dorsal spinal cord of Entpd3-/- mice when the substrate ADP was applied.  Further, Entpd3-/- mice did not differ in nociceptive behaviors when compared to wild-type mice, although Entpd3-/- mice showed a modest reduction in β-alanine-mediated itch.  Taken together, our data indicate that deletion of Entpd3 does not impair ATP or ADP hydrolysis in primary somatosensory neurons or in dorsal spinal cord.  Moreover, our data suggest there could be multiple ectonucleotidases that act redundantly to hydrolyze nucleotides in these regions of the nervous system.

Deletion of ENTPD3 does not impair nucleotide hydrolysis in primary somatosensory neurons or spinal cord [v2; ref status: indexed, http://f1000r.es/4dl

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Eric McCoy

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Ectonucleotidases are membrane-bound or secreted proteins that hydrolyze extracellular nucleotides.  Recently, we identified three ectonucleotidases that hydrolyze extracellular adenosine 5’-monophosphate (AMP to adenosine in primary somatosensory neurons.  Currently, it is unclear which ectonucleotidases hydrolyze ATP and ADP in these neurons.  Ectonucleoside triphosphate diphosphohydrolases (ENTPDs comprise a class of enzymes that dephosphorylate extracellular ATP and ADP.  Here, we found that ENTPD3 (also known as NTPDase3 or CD39L3 was located in nociceptive and non-nociceptive neurons of the dorsal root ganglion (DRG, in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord, and in free nerve endings in the skin.  To determine if ENTPD3 contributes directly to ATP and ADP hydrolysis in these tissues, we generated and characterized an Entpd3 knockout mouse.  This mouse lacks ENTPD3 protein in all tissues examined, including the DRG, spinal cord, skin, and bladder.  However, DRG and spinal cord tissues from Entpd3-/- mice showed no reduction in histochemical staining when ATP, ADP, AMP, or UTP were used as substrates.  Additionally, using fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV, adenosine production was not impaired in the dorsal spinal cord of Entpd3-/- mice when the substrate ADP was applied.  Further, Entpd3-/- mice did not differ in nociceptive behaviors when compared to wild-type mice, although Entpd3-/- mice showed a modest reduction in β-alanine-mediated itch.  Taken together, our data indicate that deletion of Entpd3 does not impair ATP or ADP hydrolysis in primary somatosensory neurons or in dorsal spinal cord.  Moreover, our data suggest there could be multiple ectonucleotidases that act redundantly to hydrolyze nucleotides in these regions of the nervous system.

Vestibular and Somatosensory Covergence in Postural Equilibrium Control: Insights from Spaceflight and Bed Rest Studies

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Mulavara, A. P.; Batson, C. D.; Buxton, R. E.; Feiveson, A. H.; Kofman, I. S.; Lee, S. M. C.; Miller, C. A.; Peters, B. T.; Phillips, T.; Platts, S. H.;

A novel role of dendritic gap junction and mechanisms underlying its interaction with thalamocortical conductance in fast spiking inhibitory neurons

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Sun Qian-Quan

2009-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Little is known about the roles of dendritic gap junctions (GJs of inhibitory interneurons in modulating temporal properties of sensory induced responses in sensory cortices. Electrophysiological dual patch-clamp recording and computational simulation methods were used in combination to examine a novel role of GJs in sensory mediated feed-forward inhibitory responses in barrel cortex layer IV and its underlying mechanisms. Results Under physiological conditions, excitatory post-junctional potentials (EPJPs interact with thalamocortical (TC inputs within an unprecedented few milliseconds (i.e. over 200 Hz to enhance the firing probability and synchrony of coupled fast-spiking (FS cells. Dendritic GJ coupling allows fourfold increase in synchrony and a significant enhancement in spike transmission efficacy in excitatory spiny stellate cells. The model revealed the following novel mechanisms: 1 rapid capacitive current (Icap underlies the activation of voltage-gated sodium channels; 2 there was less than 2 milliseconds in which the Icap underlying TC input and EPJP was coupled effectively; 3 cells with dendritic GJs had larger input conductance and smaller membrane response to weaker inputs; 4 synchrony in inhibitory networks by GJ coupling leads to reduced sporadic lateral inhibition and increased TC transmission efficacy. Conclusion Dendritic GJs of neocortical inhibitory networks can have very powerful effects in modulating the strength and the temporal properties of sensory induced feed-forward inhibitory and excitatory responses at a very high frequency band (>200 Hz. Rapid capacitive currents are identified as main mechanisms underlying interaction between two transient synaptic conductances.

High Field fMRI Reveals Thalamocortical Integration of Segregated Cognitive and Emotional Processing in Mediodorsal and Intralaminar Thalamic Nuclei

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Metzger, C. D.; Eckert, U.; Steiner, J.; Sartorius, A.; Buchmann, J. E.; Stadler, J.; Tempelmann, C.; Speck, O.; Bogerts, B.; Abler, B.; Walter, M.

2010-01-01

Thalamocortical loops, connecting functionally segregated, higher order cortical regions, and basal ganglia, have been proposed not only for well described motor and sensory regions, but also for limbic and prefrontal areas relevant for affective and cognitive processes. These functions are, however, more specific to humans, rendering most invasive neuroanatomical approaches impossible and interspecies translations difficult. In contrast, non-invasive imaging of functional neuroanatomy using fMRI allows for the development of elaborate task paradigms capable of testing the specific functionalities proposed for these circuits. Until recently, spatial resolution largely limited the anatomical definition of functional clusters at the level of distinct thalamic nuclei. Since their anatomical distinction seems crucial not only for the segregation of cognitive and limbic loops but also for the detection of their functional interaction during cognitive–emotional integration, we applied high resolution fMRI on 7 Tesla. Using an event-related design, we could isolate thalamic effects for preceding attention as well as experience of erotic stimuli. We could demonstrate specific thalamic effects of general emotional arousal in mediodorsal nucleus and effects specific to preceding attention and expectancy in intralaminar centromedian/parafascicular complex. These thalamic effects were paralleled by specific coactivations in the head of caudate nucleus as well as segregated portions of rostral or caudal cingulate cortex and anterior insula supporting distinct thalamo–striato–cortical loops. In addition to predescribed effects of sexual arousal in hypothalamus and ventral striatum, high resolution fMRI could extent this network to paraventricular thalamus encompassing laterodorsal and parataenial nuclei. We could lend evidence to segregated subcortical loops which integrate cognitive and emotional aspects of basic human behavior such as sexual processing. PMID:21088699

High field fMRI reveals thalamocortical integration of segregated cognitive and emotional processing in mediodorsal and intralaminar thalamic nuclei

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Coraline Danielle Metzger

2010-11-01

Full Text Available Thalamocortical loops, connecting functionally segregated, higher order cortical regions and basal ganglia, have been proposed not only for well described motor and sensory regions, but also for limbic and prefrontal areas relevant for affective and cognitive processes. These functions are, however, more specific to humans, rendering most invasive neuroanatomical approaches impossible and interspecies translations difficult. In contrast, non invasive imaging of functional neuroanatomy using fMRI allows for the development of elaborate task paradigms capable of testing the specific functionalities proposed for these circuits. Until recently, spatial resolution largely limited the anatomical definition of functional clusters at the level of distinct thalamic nuclei. Since their anatomical distinction seems crucial not only for the segregation of cognitive and limbic loops but also for the detection of their functional interaction during cognitive-emotional integration, we applied high resolution fMRI on 7 Tesla.Using an event related design, we could isolate thalamic effects for preceding attention as well as experience of erotic stimuli. We could demonstrate specific thalamic effects of general emotional arousal in mediodorsal nucleus and effects specific to preceding attention and expectancy in intralaminar centromedian/parafascicular complex (CM/PF. These thalamic effects were paralleled by specific coactivations in the head of caudate nucleus as well as segregated portions of rostral or caudal cingulate cortex and anterior insula supporting distinct thalamo-striato-cortical loops. In addition to predescribed effects of sexual arousal in hypothalamus and ventral striatum, high resolution fMRI could extent this network to paraventricular thalamus encompassing laterodorsal and parataenial nuclei. We could lend evidence to segregated subcortical loops which integrate cognitive and emotional aspects of basic human behaviour such as sexual

Network and neuronal membrane properties in hybrid networks reciprocally regulate selectivity to rapid thalamocortical inputs.

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Pesavento, Michael J; Pinto, David J

2012-11-01

Rapidly changing environments require rapid processing from sensory inputs. Varying deflection velocities of a rodent's primary facial vibrissa cause varying temporal neuronal activity profiles within the ventral posteromedial thalamic nucleus. Local neuron populations in a single somatosensory layer 4 barrel transform sparsely coded input into a spike count based on the input's temporal profile. We investigate this transformation by creating a barrel-like hybrid network with whole cell recordings of in vitro neurons from a cortical slice preparation, embedding the biological neuron in the simulated network by presenting virtual synaptic conductances via a conductance clamp. Utilizing the hybrid network, we examine the reciprocal network properties (local excitatory and inhibitory synaptic convergence) and neuronal membrane properties (input resistance) by altering the barrel population response to diverse thalamic input. In the presence of local network input, neurons are more selective to thalamic input timing; this arises from strong feedforward inhibition. Strongly inhibitory (damping) network regimes are more selective to timing and less selective to the magnitude of input but require stronger initial input. Input selectivity relies heavily on the different membrane properties of excitatory and inhibitory neurons. When inhibitory and excitatory neurons had identical membrane properties, the sensitivity of in vitro neurons to temporal vs. magnitude features of input was substantially reduced. Increasing the mean leak conductance of the inhibitory cells decreased the network's temporal sensitivity, whereas increasing excitatory leak conductance enhanced magnitude sensitivity. Local network synapses are essential in shaping thalamic input, and differing membrane properties of functional classes reciprocally modulate this effect.

Effect of thoracic epidural etidocaine 1.5% on somatosensory evoked potentials, cortisol and glucose during cholecystectomy

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Dahl, J B; Rosenberg, J; Kehlet, H

1992-01-01

The effect of thoracic (T7-8) epidural etidocaine 1.5%, 9 ml, and continuous per- and postoperative epidural infusion of etidocaine 1.5%, 4 ml/h, on early (less than 500 ms) somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs), and cortisol and glucose in plasma during cholecystectomy, was examined in ten...... stimulation at the L1, T10 or T6 dermatomal level (P greater than 0.09). SEPs were abolished in only two patients at T6, and no patient had SEPs abolished at T10 or L1. The plasma concentrations of cortisol and glucose were significantly increased 20 min after surgical incision and remained increased...... throughout the study. No correlation was found between the block-induced decrease in the peak-to-peak amplitude at T6 or T10 and increase in plasma cortisol, except for a negative correlation at T10 and the initial increase in cortisol (Rs = 0.72, P = 0.03). In conclusion, thoracic epidural administration...

Whisker Deprivation Drives Two Phases of Inhibitory Synapse Weakening in Layer 4 of Rat Somatosensory Cortex.

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Melanie A Gainey

Full Text Available Inhibitory synapse development in sensory neocortex is experience-dependent, with sustained sensory deprivation yielding fewer and weaker inhibitory synapses. Whether this represents arrest of synapse maturation, or a more complex set of processes, is unclear. To test this, we measured the dynamics of inhibitory synapse development in layer 4 of rat somatosensory cortex (S1 during continuous whisker deprivation from postnatal day 7, and in age-matched controls. In deprived columns, spontaneous miniature inhibitory postsynaptic currents (mIPSCs and evoked IPSCs developed normally until P15, when IPSC amplitude transiently decreased, recovering by P16 despite ongoing deprivation. IPSCs remained normal until P22, when a second, sustained phase of weakening began. Delaying deprivation onset by 5 days prevented the P15 weakening. Both early and late phase weakening involved measurable reduction in IPSC amplitude relative to prior time points. Thus, deprivation appears to drive two distinct phases of active IPSC weakening, rather than simple arrest of synapse maturation.

Focal physiological uncoupling of cerebral blood flow and oxidative metabolism during somatosensory stimulation in human subjects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fox, P.T.; Raichle, M.E.

1986-01-01

Coupling between cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO 2 ) was studied using multiple sequential administrations of 15 O-labeled radiotracers and positron emission tomography. In the resting state an excellent correlation between CBF and CMRO 2 was found when paired measurements of CBF and CMRO 2 from multiple (30-48) brain regions were tested in each of 33 normal subjects. Regional uncoupling of CBF and CMRO 2 was found, however, during neuronal activation induced by somatosensory stimulation. Stimulus-induced focal augmentation of cerebral blood flow (29% mean) far exceeded the concomitant local increase in tissue metabolic rate (mean, 5%), when resting-state and stimulated-state measurements were obtained in each of 9 subjects. Stimulus duration had no significant effect on response magnitude or on the degree of CBF-CMRO 2 uncoupling observed. Dynamic, physiological regulation of CBF by a mechanism (neuronal or biochemical) dependent on neuronal firing per se, but independent of the cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen, is hypothesized

Distribution and morphology of nitridergic neurons across functional domains of the rat primary somatosensory cortex

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Anaelli A Nogueira-Campos

2012-11-01

Full Text Available The rat primary somatosensory cortex (S1 is remarkable for its conspicuous vertical compartmentalization in barrels and septal columns, which are additionally stratified in horizontal layers. Whereas excitatory neurons from each of these compartments perform different types of processing, the role of interneurons is much less clear. Among the numerous types of GABAergic interneurons, those producing nitric oxide (NO are especially puzzling, since this gaseous messenger can modulate neural activity, synaptic plasticity and neurovascular coupling. We used a quantitative morphological approach to investigate whether nitrergic interneurons, which might therefore be considered both as NO volume diffusers and as elements of local circuitry, display features that could relate to barrel cortex architecture. In fixed brain sections, nitrergic interneurons can be revealed by histochemical processing for NADPH-diaphorase (NADPHd. Here, the dendritic arbors of nitrergic neurons from different compartments of area S1 were 3D reconstructed from serial 200-μm thick sections, using 100x objective and the Neurolucida system. Standard morphological parameters were extracted for all individual arbors and compared across columns and layers. Wedge analysis was used to compute dendritic orientation indices. Supragranular layers displayed the highest density of nitrergic neurons, whereas layer IV contained nitrergic neurons with largest soma area. The highest nitrergic neuronal density was found in septa, where dendrites were previously characterized as more extense and ramified than in barrels. Dendritic arbors were not confined to the boundaries of the column nor layer of their respective soma, being mostly double-tufted and vertically oriented, except in supragranular layers. These data strongly suggest that nitrergic interneurons adapt their morphology to the dynamics of processing performed by cortical compartments.

A perturbational approach for evaluating the brain's capacity for consciousness.

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Massimini, Marcello; Boly, Melanie; Casali, Adenauer; Rosanova, Mario; Tononi, Giulio

2009-01-01

How do we evaluate a brain's capacity to sustain conscious experience if the subject does not manifest purposeful behaviour and does not respond to questions and commands? What should we measure in this case? An emerging idea in theoretical neuroscience is that what really matters for consciousness in the brain is not activity levels, access to sensory inputs or neural synchronization per se, but rather the ability of different areas of the thalamocortical system to interact causally with each other to form an integrated whole. In particular, the information integration theory of consciousness (IITC) argues that consciousness is integrated information and that the brain should be able to generate consciousness to the extent that it has a large repertoire of available states (information), yet it cannot be decomposed into a collection of causally independent subsystems (integration). To evaluate the ability to integrate information among distributed cortical regions, it may not be sufficient to observe the brain in action. Instead, it is useful to employ a perturbational approach and examine to what extent different regions of the thalamocortical system can interact causally (integration) and produce specific responses (information). Thanks to a recently developed technique, transcranial magnetic stimulation and high-density electroencephalography (TMS/hd-EEG), one can record the immediate reaction of the entire thalamocortical system to controlled perturbations of different cortical areas. In this chapter, using sleep as a model of unconsciousness, we show that TMS/hd-EEG can detect clear-cut changes in the ability of the thalamocortical system to integrate information when the level of consciousness fluctuates across the sleep-wake cycle. Based on these results, we discuss the potential applications of this novel technique to evaluate objectively the brain's capacity for consciousness at the bedside of brain-injured patients.

Decreased somatosensory activity to non-threatening touch in combat veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder.

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Badura-Brack, Amy S; Becker, Katherine M; McDermott, Timothy J; Ryan, Tara J; Becker, Madelyn M; Hearley, Allison R; Heinrichs-Graham, Elizabeth; Wilson, Tony W

2015-08-30

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a severe psychiatric disorder prevalent in combat veterans. Previous neuroimaging studies have demonstrated that patients with PTSD exhibit abnormal responses to non-threatening visual and auditory stimuli, but have not examined somatosensory processing. Thirty male combat veterans, 16 with PTSD and 14 without, completed a tactile stimulation task during a 306-sensor magnetoencephalography (MEG) recording. Significant oscillatory neural responses were imaged using a beamforming approach. Participants also completed clinical assessments of PTSD, combat exposure, and depression. We found that veterans with PTSD exhibited significantly reduced activity during early (0-125 ms) tactile processing compared with combat controls. Specifically, veterans with PTSD had weaker activity in the left postcentral gyrus, left superior parietal area, and right prefrontal cortex in response to nonthreatening tactile stimulation relative to veterans without PTSD. The magnitude of activity in these brain regions was inversely correlated with symptom severity, indicating that those with the most severe PTSD had the most abnormal neural responses. Our findings are consistent with a resource allocation view of perceptual processing in PTSD, which directs attention away from nonthreatening sensory information. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Being watched: the effect of social self-focus on interoceptive and exteroceptive somatosensory perception.

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Durlik, Caroline; Cardini, Flavia; Tsakiris, Manos

2014-04-01

We become aware of our bodies interoceptively, by processing signals arising from within the body, and exteroceptively, by processing signals arising on or outside the body. Recent research highlights the importance of the interaction of exteroceptive and interoceptive signals in modulating bodily self-consciousness. The current study investigated the effect of social self-focus, manipulated via a video camera that was facing the participants and that was either switched on or off, on interoceptive sensitivity (using a heartbeat perception task) and on tactile perception (using the Somatic Signal Detection Task (SSDT)). The results indicated a significant effect of self-focus on SSDT performance, but not on interoception. SSDT performance was not moderated by interoceptive sensitivity, although interoceptive sensitivity scores were positively correlated with false alarms, independently of self-focus. Together with previous research, our results suggest that self-focus may exert different effects on body perception depending on its mode (private versus social). While interoception has been previously shown to be enhanced by private self-focus, the current study failed to find an effect of social self-focus on interoceptive sensitivity, instead demonstrating that social self-focus improves exteroceptive somatosensory processing. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Consciousness without a cortex, but what kind of consciousness is this? [Open Peer Commentary

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Coenen, A.M.L.

2007-01-01

Merker suggests that the thalamocortical system is not an essential system for consciousness, but, instead, that the midbrain reticular system is responsible for consciousness. Indeed, the latter is a crucial system for consciousness, when consciousness is regarded as the waking state. However, when

Effects of somatosensory electrical stimulation on motor function and cortical oscillations.

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Tu-Chan, Adelyn P; Natraj, Nikhilesh; Godlove, Jason; Abrams, Gary; Ganguly, Karunesh

2017-11-13

Few patients recover full hand dexterity after an acquired brain injury such as stroke. Repetitive somatosensory electrical stimulation (SES) is a promising method to promote recovery of hand function. However, studies using SES have largely focused on gross motor function; it remains unclear if it can modulate distal hand functions such as finger individuation. The specific goal of this study was to monitor the effects of SES on individuation as well as on cortical oscillations measured using EEG, with the additional goal of identifying neurophysiological biomarkers. Eight participants with a history of acquired brain injury and distal upper limb motor impairments received a single two-hour session of SES using transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation. Pre- and post-intervention assessments consisted of the Action Research Arm Test (ARAT), finger fractionation, pinch force, and the modified Ashworth scale (MAS), along with resting-state EEG monitoring. SES was associated with significant improvements in ARAT, MAS and finger fractionation. Moreover, SES was associated with a decrease in low frequency (0.9-4 Hz delta) ipsilesional parietomotor EEG power. Interestingly, changes in ipsilesional motor theta (4.8-7.9 Hz) and alpha (8.8-11.7 Hz) power were significantly correlated with finger fractionation improvements when using a multivariate model. We show the positive effects of SES on finger individuation and identify cortical oscillations that may be important electrophysiological biomarkers of individual responsiveness to SES. These biomarkers can be potential targets when customizing SES parameters to individuals with hand dexterity deficits. NCT03176550; retrospectively registered.

Central poststroke pain: somatosensory abnormalities and the presence of associated myofascial pain syndrome

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de Oliveira Rogério Adas

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Central post-stroke pain (CPSP is a neuropathic pain syndrome associated with somatosensory abnormalities due to central nervous system lesion following a cerebrovascular insult. Post-stroke pain (PSP refers to a broader range of clinical conditions leading to pain after stroke, but not restricted to CPSP, including other types of pain such as myofascial pain syndrome (MPS, painful shoulder, lumbar and dorsal pain, complex regional pain syndrome, and spasticity-related pain. Despite its recognition as part of the general PSP diagnostic possibilities, the prevalence of MPS has never been characterized in patients with CPSP patients. We performed a cross-sectional standardized clinical and radiological evaluation of patients with definite CPSP in order to assess the presence of other non-neuropathic pain syndromes, and in particular, the role of myofascial pain syndrome in these patients. Methods CPSP patients underwent a standardized sensory and motor neurological evaluation, and were classified according to stroke mechanism, neurological deficits, presence and profile of MPS. The Visual Analogic Scale (VAS, McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ, and Beck Depression Scale (BDS were filled out by all participants. Results Forty CPSP patients were included. Thirty-six (90.0% had one single ischemic stroke. Pain presented during the first three months after stroke in 75.0%. Median pain intensity was 10 (5 to 10. There was no difference in pain intensity among the different lesion site groups. Neuropathic pain was continuous-ongoing in 34 (85.0% patients and intermittent in the remainder. Burning was the most common descriptor (70%. Main aggravating factors were contact to cold (62.5%. Thermo-sensory abnormalities were universal. MPS was diagnosed in 27 (67.5% patients and was more common in the supratentorial extra-thalamic group (P Conclusions The presence of MPS is not an exception after stroke and may present in association with CPSP

Sensory disturbance, CT, and somatosensory evoked potentials in thalamic hemorrhages

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koga, Hisanobu; Miyazaki, Takayoshi; Miyazaki, Hisaya

1985-01-01

Thalamic hemorrhages often lead to sensory disturbances. However, no effective method for the evaluation of their prognoses has yet been clinically utilized. The somatosensory evoked potential (SEP) has been reported as an effective method, but it remains controversial. A CT scan is eminently suitable for determining the size and position of the hemorrhage. However, the correlation between the localization of the hematoma on the CT scan and the sensory distrubance has not been investigated fully. The authors selected 20 cases with the chronic stage of a thalamic hemorrhage. Each one was clinically evaluated as to sensory disturbance; they were then classified into the following five groups: Group 1: no sensory deficit (3 cases); Group 2: complete recovery from initial deficit (2 cases); Group 3: mild hypesthesia (5 cases); Group 4: severe hypesthesia (5 cases), and Group 5: paresthesia or dysesthesia (5 cases). Also, the CT scan was investigated with regard to the localization of the hematoma and the SEP. We could thus find a characteristic pattern in each group. The results may be summarized as follows. 1. The correlation between the degree of the sensory disturbance and the size and expansion of the hematoma was clearly detected. Especially, the most severe sensory disturbance was found in the hematoma extending to the lateral nuclear and ventral nuclear regions. 2. In Group 1 and 2, each SEP component (N 1 N 2 N 3 ) was shown to be normal. In Group 3, SEP components could be detected, but not completely. In Group 4, no components at all could be found. 3. In Group 5, all cases were small hematoma localized in the lateral nuclear region of the thalamus, while the N 3 components were prolonged on the SEP findings. The authors demonstrate the results and discuss the correlation between the sensory disturbance and the CT or SEP findings. (author)

Human umbilical cord blood cells restore brain damage induced changes in rat somatosensory cortex.

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Maren Geissler

Full Text Available Intraperitoneal transplantation of human umbilical cord blood (hUCB cells has been shown to reduce sensorimotor deficits after hypoxic ischemic brain injury in neonatal rats. However, the neuronal correlate of the functional recovery and how such a treatment enforces plastic remodelling at the level of neural processing remains elusive. Here we show by in-vivo recordings that hUCB cells have the capability of ameliorating the injury-related impairment of neural processing in primary somatosensory cortex. Intact cortical processing depends on a delicate balance of inhibitory and excitatory transmission, which is disturbed after injury. We found that the dimensions of cortical maps and receptive fields, which are significantly altered after injury, were largely restored. Additionally, the lesion induced hyperexcitability was no longer observed in hUCB treated animals as indicated by a paired-pulse behaviour resembling that observed in control animals. The beneficial effects on cortical processing were reflected in an almost complete recovery of sensorimotor behaviour. Our results demonstrate that hUCB cells reinstall the way central neurons process information by normalizing inhibitory and excitatory processes. We propose that the intermediate level of cortical processing will become relevant as a new stage to investigate efficacy and mechanisms of cell therapy in the treatment of brain injury.

Modulation of short-term plasticity in the corticothalamic circuit by group III metabotropic glutamate receptors.

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Kyuyoung, Christine L; Huguenard, John R

2014-01-08

Recurrent connections in the corticothalamic circuit underlie oscillatory behavior in this network and range from normal sleep rhythms to the abnormal spike-wave discharges seen in absence epilepsy. The propensity of thalamic neurons to fire postinhibitory rebound bursts mediated by low-threshold calcium spikes renders the circuit vulnerable to both increased excitation and increased inhibition, such as excessive excitatory cortical drive to thalamic reticular (RT) neurons or heightened inhibition of thalamocortical relay (TC) neurons by RT. In this context, a protective role may be played by group III metabotropic receptors (mGluRs), which are uniquely located in the presynaptic active zone and typically act as autoreceptors or heteroceptors to depress synaptic release. Here, we report that these receptors regulate short-term plasticity at two loci in the corticothalamic circuit in rats: glutamatergic cortical synapses onto RT neurons and GABAergic synapses onto TC neurons in somatosensory ventrobasal thalamus. The net effect of group III mGluR activation at these synapses is to suppress thalamic oscillations as assayed in vitro. These findings suggest a functional role of these receptors to modulate corticothalamic transmission and protect against prolonged activity in the network.

Structure of receptive fields in a computational model of area 3b of primary sensory cortex.

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Detorakis, Georgios Is; Rougier, Nicolas P

2014-01-01

In a previous work, we introduced a computational model of area 3b which is built upon the neural field theory and receives input from a simplified model of the index distal finger pad populated by a random set of touch receptors (Merkell cells). This model has been shown to be able to self-organize following the random stimulation of the finger pad model and to cope, to some extent, with cortical or skin lesions. The main hypothesis of the model is that learning of skin representations occurs at the thalamo-cortical level while cortico-cortical connections serve a stereotyped competition mechanism that shapes the receptive fields. To further assess this hypothesis and the validity of the model, we reproduced in this article the exact experimental protocol of DiCarlo et al. that has been used to examine the structure of receptive fields in area 3b of the primary somatosensory cortex. Using the same analysis toolset, the model yields consistent results, having most of the receptive fields to contain a single region of excitation and one to several regions of inhibition. We further proceeded our study using a dynamic competition that deeply influences the formation of the receptive fields. We hypothesized this dynamic competition to correspond to some form of somatosensory attention that may help to precisely shape the receptive fields. To test this hypothesis, we designed a protocol where an arbitrary region of interest is delineated on the index distal finger pad and we either (1) instructed explicitly the model to attend to this region (simulating an attentional signal) (2) preferentially trained the model on this region or (3) combined the two aforementioned protocols simultaneously. Results tend to confirm that dynamic competition leads to shrunken receptive fields and its joint interaction with intensive training promotes a massive receptive fields migration and shrinkage.

Structure of Receptive Fields in a Computational Model of Area 3b of Primary Sensory Cortex

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Georgios eDetorakis

2014-07-01

Full Text Available In a previous work, we introduced a computational model of area 3b which is built upon the neural field theory and receives input from a simplified model of the index distal finger pad populated by a random set of touch receptors(Merkell cells. This model has been shown to be able to self-organize following the random stimulation of the finger pad model and to cope, to some extent, with cortical or skin lesions. The main hypothesis of the model is that learning of skin representations occurs at the thalamo-cortical level while cortico-cortical connections serve a stereotyped competition mechanism that shapes the receptive fields. To further assess this hypothesis and the validity of the model, we reproduced in this article the exact experimental protocol of DiCarlo et al. that has been used to examine the structure of receptive fields in area 3b of the primary somatosensory cortex. Using the same analysis toolset, the model yields consistent results, having most of the receptive fields to contain a single region of excitation and one to severalregions of inhibition. We further proceeded our study using a dynamic competition that deeply influences the formation of the receptive fields. We hypothesized this dynamic competition to correspond to some form of somatosensory attention that may help to precisely shape the receptive fields. To test this hypothesis, we designed a protocol where an arbitrary region of interest is delineated on the index distal finger pad and we either (1 instructed explicitly the model to attend to this region (simulating an attentional signal (2 preferentially trained the model on this region or (3combined the two aforementioned protocols simultaneously. Results tend to confirm that dynamic competition leads to shrunken receptive fields and its joint interaction with intensive training promotes a massive receptive fields migration and shrinkage.

Vibrotactile masking experiments reveal accelerated somatosensory processing in congenitally blind braille readers.

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Bhattacharjee, Arindam; Ye, Amanda J; Lisak, Joy A; Vargas, Maria G; Goldreich, Daniel

2010-10-27

Braille reading is a demanding task that requires the identification of rapidly varying tactile patterns. During proficient reading, neighboring characters impact the fingertip at ∼100 ms intervals, and adjacent raised dots within a character at 50 ms intervals. Because the brain requires time to interpret afferent sensorineural activity, among other reasons, tactile stimuli separated by such short temporal intervals pose a challenge to perception. How, then, do proficient Braille readers successfully interpret inputs arising from their fingertips at such rapid rates? We hypothesized that somatosensory perceptual consolidation occurs more rapidly in proficient Braille readers. If so, Braille readers should outperform sighted participants on masking tasks, which demand rapid perceptual processing, but would not necessarily outperform the sighted on tests of simple vibrotactile sensitivity. To investigate, we conducted two-interval forced-choice vibrotactile detection, amplitude discrimination, and masking tasks on the index fingertips of 89 sighted and 57 profoundly blind humans. Sighted and blind participants had similar unmasked detection (25 ms target tap) and amplitude discrimination (compared with 100 μm reference tap) thresholds, but congenitally blind Braille readers, the fastest readers among the blind participants, exhibited significantly less masking than the sighted (masker, 50 Hz, 50 μm; target-masker delays, ±50 and ±100 ms). Indeed, Braille reading speed correlated significantly and specifically with masking task performance, and in particular with the backward masking decay time constant. We conclude that vibrotactile sensitivity is unchanged but that perceptual processing is accelerated in congenitally blind Braille readers.

Negative BOLD signal changes in ipsilateral primary somatosensory cortex are associated with perfusion decreases and behavioral evidence for functional inhibition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schäfer, Katharina; Blankenburg, Felix; Kupers, Ron

2012-01-01

that the negative BOLD signal is associated with functional inhibition. Electrical stimulation of the median nerve at 7Hz evoked robust negative BOLD signals in the primary somatosensory cortex (SI) ipsilateral to stimulation, and positive BOLD signals in contralateral SI. The negative BOLD signal in ipsilateral SI......) at the ipsilateral finger during concomitant stimulation of the contralateral median nerve increased significantly, suggesting augmented functional inhibition. Since the CPT in the ipsilateral hallux did not significantly change in response to median nerve stimulation, it is more likely that the CPT......-increase for the finger is due to functional inhibition (Kastrup et al., 2008) than to changes in selective attention. In conclusion, our data provide evidence that stimulus-induced reductions in relative rCBF may underlie the negative BOLD signal, which in turn may reflect increments in functional inhibition....

Changes in the somatosensory evoked potentials and spontaneous electroencephalogram of hens during stunning in argon-induced anoxia.

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Raj, A B; Gregory, N G; Wotton, S B

1991-01-01

This study examined the time to loss of consciousness in hens during stunning in argon-induced anoxia. Somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) and the spontaneous electroencephalogram (EEG) were recorded in 12 culled hens prior to and during stunning in less than 2% oxygen (air displaced by argon). An additional 20 hens were stunned with a similar concentration of oxygen and the time to loss of posture, eye closure, and the onset and duration of clonic and tonic convulsions were recorded. A further 10 hens were immersed in less than 2% oxygen for 15-17 s and their response to comb pinching was tested as soon as they had been transferred to atmospheric air. It is concluded that the birds had not lost the primary response in their SEPs by the time they started convulsing, but the reduction in the amplitude of the SEPs, changes in their spontaneous EEG and a negative response to comb pinch before the start of the convulsions indicated that the birds were unconscious when they convulsed.

Somatosensory evoked potentials assess the efficacy of circumcision for premature ejaculation.

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Xia, J-D; Jiang, H-S; Zhu, L-L; Zhang, Z; Chen, H; Dai, Y-T

2016-07-01

To assess the efficacy and mechanism of circumcision in the treatment of premature ejaculation (PE) with redundant prepuce, we enrolled a total of 81 PE patients who received circumcision. The patients' ejaculatory ability and sexual performances were evaluated before and after circumcision by using questionnaires (Intravaginal ejaculation latency time (IELT), Chinese Index of PE with 5 questions (CIPE-5) and International Index of Erectile function- 5 (IIEF-5)). Furthermore, somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) including dorsal nerve (DNSEP) and glans penis (GPSEP) of the patients were also measured. The mean IELTs of preoperation and post operation were 1.10±0.55 and 2.48±2.03 min, respectively (PIELT after operation was 2.16 min, compared with the baseline 1.07 min before the operation, the fold increase of the IELT was 2.02. Compared with the uncircumcised status, scores of CIPE-5 showed a significant increase after circumcision (P<0.001). The mean latencies (and amplitudes) of GPSEP and DNSEP were 38.1±4.0 ms (3.0±1.9 uV) and 40.5±3.4 ms (2.8±1.6 uV) before circumcision, respectively; and 42.8±3.3 ms (2.8±1.6 uV) and 40.5±4.1 ms (2.4±1.2 uV) in the follow-up end point after circumcision. Only the latencies of GPSEP showed significant prolongation before and after circumcision (P<0.001). The ejaculation time improvement after circumcision is so small, and equal to placebo response, therefore it could not be interpreted as a therapeutic method in men with PE.

Electrodiagnostic applications of somatosensory evoked high-frequency EEG oscillations: Technical considerations.

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Simpson, A J; Cunningham, M O; Baker, M R

2018-03-01

High frequency oscillations (HFOs) embedded within the somatosensory evoked potential (SEP) are not routinely recorded/measured as part of standard clinical SEPs. However, HFOs could provide important additional diagnostic/prognostic information in various patient groups in whom SEPs are tested routinely. One area is the management of patients with hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE) in the intensive care unit (ICU). However, the sensitivity of standard clinical SEP recording techniques for detecting HFOs is unknown. SEPs were recorded using routine clinical methods in 17 healthy subjects (median nerve stimulation; 0.5 ms pulse width; 5 Hz; maximum 4000 stimuli) in an unshielded laboratory. Bipolar EEG recordings were acquired (gain 50 k; bandpass 3Hz-2 kHz; sampling rate 5 kHz; non-inverting electrode 2 cm anterior to C3/C4; inverting electrode 2 cm posterior to C3/C4). Data analysis was performed in MATLAB. SEP-HFOs were detected in 65% of controls using standard clinical recording techniques. In 3 controls without significant HFOs, experiments were repeated using a linear electrode array with higher spatial sampling frequency. SEP-HFOs were observed in all 3 subjects. Currently standard clinical methods of recording SEPs are not sufficiently sensitive to permit the inclusion of SEP-HFOs in routine clinical diagnostic/prognostic assessments. Whilst an increase in the number/density of EEG electrodes should improve the sensitivity for detecting SEP-HFOs, this requires confirmation. By improving and standardising clinical SEP recording protocols to permit the acquisition/analysis of SEP-HFOs, it should be possible to gain important insights into the pathophysiology of neurological disorders and refine the management of conditions such as HIE. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Development of sensory system s related with postural - locomotor function in toddler ́s age, possibilities of assessmen

OpenAIRE

Blažková, Markéta

2014-01-01

Bachelor's thesis "Development of sensory systems related with postural-locomotor function in toddler's age, possibilities of assessment" summarizes function of visual, vestibular and somatosensory system and maturation of these systems in toddler's age. Next part describes the development of postural- locomotor function related to maturation of sensory systems. The last part of the work deals with the issue of assessment in toddler's age. Three toddlers are described in the practical part of...

Individual Differences in Reward and Somatosensory-Motor Brain Regions Correlate with Adiposity in Adolescents.

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Rapuano, Kristina M; Huckins, Jeremy F; Sargent, James D; Heatherton, Todd F; Kelley, William M

2016-06-01

The prevalence of adolescent obesity has increased dramatically over the past three decades, and research has documented that the number of television shows viewed during childhood is associated with greater risk for obesity. In particular, considerable evidence suggests that exposure to food marketing promotes eating habits that contribute to obesity. The present study examines neural responses to dynamic food commercials in overweight and healthy-weight adolescents using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Compared with non-food commercials, food commercials more strongly engaged regions involved in attention and saliency detection (occipital lobe, precuneus, superior temporal gyri, and right insula) and in processing rewards [left and right nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and left orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)]. Activity in the left OFC and right insula further correlated with subjects' percent body fat at the time of the scan. Interestingly, this reward-related activity to food commercials was accompanied by the additional recruitment of mouth-specific somatosensory-motor cortices-a finding that suggests the intriguing possibility that higher-adiposity adolescents mentally simulate eating behaviors and offers a potential neural mechanism for the formation and reinforcement of unhealthy eating habits that may hamper an individual's ability lose weight later in life. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

From Parkinsonian thalamic activity to restoring thalamic relay using deep brain stimulation: new insights from computational modeling

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Meijer, Hil Gaétan Ellart; Krupa, M.; Cagnan, H.; Lourens, Marcel Antonius Johannes; Heida, Tjitske; Martens, H.C.F.; Bour, L.J.; van Gils, Stephanus A.

2011-01-01

We present a computational model of a thalamocortical relay neuron for exploring basal ganglia thalamocortical loop behavior in relation to Parkinson's disease and deep brain stimulation (DBS). Previous microelectrode, single-unit recording studies demonstrated that oscillatory interaction within

The Functioning of a Cortex without Layers

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Julien Guy

2017-07-01

Full Text Available A major hallmark of cortical organization is the existence of a variable number of layers, i.e., sheets of neurons stacked on top of each other, in which neurons have certain commonalities. However, even for the neocortex, variable numbers of layers have been described and it is just a convention to distinguish six layers from each other. Whether cortical layers are a structural epiphenomenon caused by developmental dynamics or represent a functionally important modularization of cortical computation is still unknown. Here we present our insights from the reeler mutant mouse, a model for a developmental, “molecular lesion”-induced loss of cortical layering that could serve as ground truth of what an intact layering adds to the cortex in terms of functionality. We could demonstrate that the reeler neocortex shows no inversion of cortical layers but rather a severe disorganization that in the primary somatosensory cortex leads to the complete loss of layers. Nevertheless, the somatosensory system is well organized. When exploring an enriched environment with specific sets of whiskers, activity-dependent gene expression takes place in the corresponding modules. Precise whisker stimuli lead to the functional activation of somatotopically organized barrel columns as visualized by intrinsic signal optical imaging. Similar results were obtained in the reeler visual system. When analyzing pathways that could be responsible for preservation of tactile perception, lemniscal thalamic projections were found to be largely intact, despite the smearing of target neurons across the cortical mantle. However, with optogenetic experiments we found evidence for a mild dispersion of thalamic synapse targeting on layer IV-spiny stellate cells, together with a general weakening in thalamocortical input strength. This weakening of thalamic inputs was compensated by intracortical mechanisms involving increased recurrent excitation and/or reduced feedforward

Enhancement of Median Nerve Regeneration by Mesenchymal Stem Cells Engraftment in an Absorbable Conduit: Improvement of Peripheral Nerve Morphology with Enlargement of Somatosensory Cortical Representation.

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Julia Teixeira Oliveira

2014-10-01

Full Text Available We studied the morphology and the cortical representation of the median nerve (MN, 10 weeks after a transection immediately followed by treatment with tubulization using a polycaprolactone (PCL conduit with or without bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell (MSC transplant. In order to characterize the cutaneous representation of MN inputs in primary somatosensory cortex (S1, electrophysiological cortical mapping of the somatosensory representation of the forepaw and adjacent body parts was performed after acute lesion of all brachial plexus nerves, except for the MN. This was performed in ten adult male Wistar rats randomly assigned in 3 groups: MN Intact (n=4, PCL-Only (n=3 and PCL+MSC (n=3. Ten weeks before mapping procedures in animals from PCL-Only and PCL+MSC groups, animal were subjected to MN transection with removal of a 4-mm-long segment, immediately followed by suturing a PCL conduit to the nerve stumps with (PCL+MSC group or without (PCL-Only group injection of MSC into the conduit. After mapping the representation of the MN in S1, animals had a segment of the regenerated nerve processed for light and transmission electron microscopy. For histomorphometric analysis of the nerve segment, sample size was increased to 5 animals per experimental group. The PCL+MSC group presented a higher number of myelinated fibers and a larger cortical representation of MN inputs in S1 (3,383±390 fibers; 2.3 mm2, respectively than the PCL-Only group (2,226±575 fibers; 1.6 mm2. In conclusion, MSC-based therapy associated with PCL conduits can improve MN regeneration. This treatment seems to rescue the nerve representation in S1, thus minimizing the stabilization of new representations of adjacent body parts in regions previously responsive to the MN.

Tactile information processing in primate hand somatosensory cortex (S1) during passive arm movement.

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Song, Weiguo; Francis, Joseph Thachil

2013-11-01

Motor output mostly depends on sensory input, which also can be affected by action. To further our understanding of how tactile information is processed in the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) in dynamic environments, we recorded neural responses to tactile stimulation of the hand in three awake monkeys under arm/hand passive movement and rest. We found that neurons generally responded to tactile stimulation under both conditions and were modulated by movement: with a higher baseline firing rate, a suppressed peak rate, and a smaller dynamic range during passive movement than during rest, while the area under the response curve was stable across these two states. By using an information theory-based method, the mutual information between tactile stimulation and neural responses was quantified with rate and spatial coding models under the two conditions. The two potential encoding models showed different contributions depending on behavioral contexts. Tactile information encoded with rate coding from individual units was lower than spatial coding of unit pairs, especially during movement; however, spatial coding had redundant information between unit pairs. Passive movement regulated the mutual information, and such regulation might play different roles depending on the encoding strategies used. The underlying mechanisms of our observation most likely come from a bottom-up strategy, where neurons in S1 were regulated through the activation of the peripheral tactile/proprioceptive receptors and the interactions between these different types of information.

The embodiment of emotion: language use during the feeling of social emotions predicts cortical somatosensory activity.

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Saxbe, Darby E; Yang, Xiao-Fei; Borofsky, Larissa A; Immordino-Yang, Mary Helen

2013-10-01

Complex social emotions involve both abstract cognitions and bodily sensations, and individuals may differ on their relative reliance on these. We hypothesized that individuals' descriptions of their feelings during a semi-structured emotion induction interview would reveal two distinct psychological styles-a more abstract, cognitive style and a more body-based, affective style-and that these would be associated with somatosensory neural activity. We examined 28 participants' open-ended verbal responses to admiration- and compassion-provoking narratives in an interview and BOLD activity to the same narratives during subsequent functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning. Consistent with hypotheses, individuals' affective and cognitive word use were stable across emotion conditions, negatively correlated and unrelated to reported emotion strength in the scanner. Greater use of affective relative to cognitive words predicted more activation in SI, SII, middle anterior cingulate cortex and insula during emotion trials. The results suggest that individuals' verbal descriptions of their feelings reflect differential recruitment of neural regions supporting physical body awareness. Although somatosensation has long been recognized as an important component of emotion processing, these results offer 'proof of concept' that individual differences in open-ended speech reflect different processing styles at the neurobiological level. This study also demonstrates SI involvement during social emotional experience.

Alpha, beta and gamma electrocorticographic rhythms in somatosensory, motor, premotor and prefrontal cortical areas differ in movement execution and observation in humans.

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Babiloni, Claudio; Del Percio, Claudio; Vecchio, Fabrizio; Sebastiano, Fabio; Di Gennaro, Giancarlo; Quarato, Pier P; Morace, Roberta; Pavone, Luigi; Soricelli, Andrea; Noce, Giuseppe; Esposito, Vincenzo; Rossini, Paolo Maria; Gallese, Vittorio; Mirabella, Giovanni

2016-01-01

In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that both movement execution and observation induce parallel modulations of alpha, beta, and gamma electrocorticographic (ECoG) rhythms in primary somatosensory (Brodmann area 1-2, BA1-2), primary motor (BA4), ventral premotor (BA6), and prefrontal (BA44 and BA45, part of putative human mirror neuron system underlying the understanding of actions of other people) areas. ECoG activity was recorded in drug-resistant epileptic patients during the execution of actions to reach and grasp common objects according to their affordances, as well as during the observation of the same actions performed by an experimenter. Both action execution and observation induced a desynchronization of alpha and beta rhythms in BA1-2, BA4, BA6, BA44 and BA45, which was generally higher in amplitude during the former than the latter condition. Action execution also induced a major synchronization of gamma rhythms in BA4 and BA6, again more during the execution of an action than during its observation. Human primary sensorimotor, premotor, and prefrontal areas do generate alpha, beta, and gamma rhythms and differently modulate them during action execution and observation. Gamma rhythms of motor areas are especially involved in action execution. Oscillatory activity of neural populations in sensorimotor, premotor and prefrontal (part of human mirror neuron system) areas represents and distinguishes own actions from those of other people. This methodological approach might be used for a neurophysiological diagnostic imaging of social cognition in epileptic patients. Copyright © 2015 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Predicting Spike Occurrence and Neuronal Responsiveness from LFPs in Primary Somatosensory Cortex

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Storchi, Riccardo; Zippo, Antonio G.; Caramenti, Gian Carlo; Valente, Maurizio; Biella, Gabriele E. M.

2012-01-01

Local Field Potentials (LFPs) integrate multiple neuronal events like synaptic inputs and intracellular potentials. LFP spatiotemporal features are particularly relevant in view of their applications both in research (e.g. for understanding brain rhythms, inter-areal neural communication and neronal coding) and in the clinics (e.g. for improving invasive Brain-Machine Interface devices). However the relation between LFPs and spikes is complex and not fully understood. As spikes represent the fundamental currency of neuronal communication this gap in knowledge strongly limits our comprehension of neuronal phenomena underlying LFPs. We investigated the LFP-spike relation during tactile stimulation in primary somatosensory (S-I) cortex in the rat. First we quantified how reliably LFPs and spikes code for a stimulus occurrence. Then we used the information obtained from our analyses to design a predictive model for spike occurrence based on LFP inputs. The model was endowed with a flexible meta-structure whose exact form, both in parameters and structure, was estimated by using a multi-objective optimization strategy. Our method provided a set of nonlinear simple equations that maximized the match between models and true neurons in terms of spike timings and Peri Stimulus Time Histograms. We found that both LFPs and spikes can code for stimulus occurrence with millisecond precision, showing, however, high variability. Spike patterns were predicted significantly above chance for 75% of the neurons analysed. Crucially, the level of prediction accuracy depended on the reliability in coding for the stimulus occurrence. The best predictions were obtained when both spikes and LFPs were highly responsive to the stimuli. Spike reliability is known to depend on neuron intrinsic properties (i.e. on channel noise) and on spontaneous local network fluctuations. Our results suggest that the latter, measured through the LFP response variability, play a dominant role. PMID:22586452

Biomagnetic Measurement System on Mice-Evaluation of System Performance by MCG and Application to MEG

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nakamura, T; Shirai, K; Ono, Y; Kasai, N; Odawara, A; Ishiyama, A

2006-01-01

We developed a biomagnetic measurement system on mice. Our initial model of the system has the magnetic field sensitivity of 1.3 pT/Hz 1/2 in the white-noise region (10 Hz-10 kHz). And using the system, we succeeded to obtain magnetically the heart activity on mice. However, in its application to measure the brain activity on mice, it was necessary to improve the magnetic field sensitivity of the system. Therefore, we changed the material of the window cap, which holds a sapphire glass window on the dewar tail, to ceramic. The system noise was decreased and the magnetic field sensitivity of the system was improved to 0.75 pT/Hz 1/2 in the white-noise region. For an initial measurement of the brain activity, we also developed a whisker stimulation system using a piezoelectric element to evoke somatosensory responses

The pacemaker role of thalamic reticular nucleus in controlling spike-wave discharges and spindles.

Science.gov (United States)

Fan, Denggui; Liao, Fucheng; Wang, Qingyun

2017-07-01

Absence epilepsy, characterized by 2-4 Hz spike-wave discharges (SWDs), can be caused by pathological interactions within the thalamocortical system. Cortical spindling oscillations are also demonstrated to involve the oscillatory thalamocortical rhythms generated by the synaptic circuitry of the thalamus and cortex. This implies that SWDs and spindling oscillations can share the common thalamocortical mechanism. Additionally, the thalamic reticular nucleus (RE) is hypothesized to regulate the onsets and propagations of both the epileptic SWDs and sleep spindles. Based on the proposed single-compartment thalamocortical neural field model, we firstly investigate the stimulation effect of RE on the initiations, terminations, and transitions of SWDs. It is shown that the activations and deactivations of RE triggered by single-pulse stimuli can drive the cortical subsystem to behave as the experimentally observed onsets and self-abatements of SWDs, as well as the transitions from 2-spike and wave discharges (2-SWDs) to SWDs. In particular, with increasing inhibition from RE to the specific relay nucleus (TC), rich transition behaviors in cortex can be obtained through the upstream projection path, RE→TC→Cortex. Although some of the complex dynamical patterns can be expected from the earlier single compartment thalamocortical model, the effect of brain network topology on the emergence of SWDs and spindles, as well as the transitions between them, has not been fully investigated. We thereby develop a spatially extended 3-compartment coupled network model with open-/closed-end connective configurations, to investigate the spatiotemporal effect of RE on the SWDs and spindles. Results show that the degrees of activations of RE 1 can induce the rich spatiotemporal evolution properties including the propagations from SWDs to spindles within different compartments and the transitions between them, through the RE 1 →TC 1 →Cortex 1 and Cortex 1 →Cortex 2 →Cortex 3

The pacemaker role of thalamic reticular nucleus in controlling spike-wave discharges and spindles

Science.gov (United States)

Fan, Denggui; Liao, Fucheng; Wang, Qingyun

2017-07-01

Absence epilepsy, characterized by 2-4 Hz spike-wave discharges (SWDs), can be caused by pathological interactions within the thalamocortical system. Cortical spindling oscillations are also demonstrated to involve the oscillatory thalamocortical rhythms generated by the synaptic circuitry of the thalamus and cortex. This implies that SWDs and spindling oscillations can share the common thalamocortical mechanism. Additionally, the thalamic reticular nucleus (RE) is hypothesized to regulate the onsets and propagations of both the epileptic SWDs and sleep spindles. Based on the proposed single-compartment thalamocortical neural field model, we firstly investigate the stimulation effect of RE on the initiations, terminations, and transitions of SWDs. It is shown that the activations and deactivations of RE triggered by single-pulse stimuli can drive the cortical subsystem to behave as the experimentally observed onsets and self-abatements of SWDs, as well as the transitions from 2-spike and wave discharges (2-SWDs) to SWDs. In particular, with increasing inhibition from RE to the specific relay nucleus (TC), rich transition behaviors in cortex can be obtained through the upstream projection path, RE → TC → Cortex . Although some of the complex dynamical patterns can be expected from the earlier single compartment thalamocortical model, the effect of brain network topology on the emergence of SWDs and spindles, as well as the transitions between them, has not been fully investigated. We thereby develop a spatially extended 3-compartment coupled network model with open-/closed-end connective configurations, to investigate the spatiotemporal effect of RE on the SWDs and spindles. Results show that the degrees of activations of RE 1 can induce the rich spatiotemporal evolution properties including the propagations from SWDs to spindles within different compartments and the transitions between them, through the RE 1 → TC 1 → Cortex 1 and Cortex 1 → Cortex 2 �

From Parkinsonian thalamic activity to restoring thalamic relay using deep brain stimulation: new insights from computational modeling

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Meijer, H. G. E.; Krupa, M.; Cagnan, H.; Lourens, M. A. J.; Heida, T.; Martens, H. C. F.; Bour, L. J.; van Gils, S. A.

2011-10-01

We present a computational model of a thalamocortical relay neuron for exploring basal ganglia thalamocortical loop behavior in relation to Parkinson's disease and deep brain stimulation (DBS). Previous microelectrode, single-unit recording studies demonstrated that oscillatory interaction within and between basal ganglia nuclei is very often accompanied by synchronization at Parkinsonian rest tremor frequencies (3-10 Hz). These oscillations have a profound influence on thalamic projections and impair the thalamic relaying of cortical input by generating rebound action potentials. Our model describes convergent inhibitory input received from basal ganglia by the thalamocortical cells based on characteristics of normal activity, and/or low-frequency oscillations (activity associated with Parkinson's disease). In addition to simulated input, we also used microelectrode recordings as inputs for the model. In the resting state, and without additional sensorimotor input, pathological rebound activity is generated for even mild Parkinsonian input. We have found a specific stimulation window of amplitudes and frequencies for periodic input, which corresponds to high-frequency DBS, and which also suppresses rebound activity for mild and even more prominent Parkinsonian input. When low-frequency pathological rebound activity disables the thalamocortical cell's ability to relay excitatory cortical input, a stimulation signal with parameter settings corresponding to our stimulation window can restore the thalamocortical cell's relay functionality.

Conversion disorder: towards a neurobiological understanding

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Harvey, Samuel B; Stanton, Biba R; David, Anthony S

2006-01-01

Conversion disorders are a common cause of neurological disability, but the diagnosis remains controversial and the mechanism by which psychological stress can result in physical symptoms “unconsciously” is poorly understood. This review summarises research examining conversion disorder from a neurobiological perspective. Early observations suggesting a role for hemispheric specialization have not been replicated consistently. Patients with sensory conversion symptoms have normal evoked responses in primary and secondary somatosensory cortex but a reduction in the P300 potential, which is thought to reflect a lack of conscious processing of sensory stimuli. The emergence of functional imaging has provided the greatest opportunity for understanding the neural basis of conversion symptoms. Studies have been limited by small patient numbers and failure to control for confounding variables. The evidence available would suggest a broad hypothesis that frontal cortical and limbic activation associated with emotional stress may act via inhibitory basal ganglia–thalamocortical circuits to produce a deficit of conscious sensory or motor processing. The conceptual difficulties that have limited progress in this area are discussed. A better neuropsychiatric understanding of the mechanisms of conversion symptoms may improve our understanding of normal attention and volition and reduce the controversy surrounding this diagnosis. PMID:19412442

[Motivation and Emotional States: Structural Systemic, Neurochemical, Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms].

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Bazyan, A S

2016-01-01

The structural, systemic, neurochemical, molecular and cellular mechanisms of organization and coding motivation and emotional states are describe. The GABA and glutamatergic synaptic systems of basal ganglia form a neural network and participate in the implementation of voluntary behavior. Neuropeptides, neurohormones and paracrine neuromodulators involved in the organization of motivation and emotional states, integrated with synaptic systems, controlled by neural networks and organizing goal-directed behavior. Structural centers for united and integrated of information in voluntary and goal-directed behavior are globus pallidus. Substantia nigra pars reticulata switches the information from corticobasal networks to thalamocortical networks, induces global dopaminergic (DA) signal and organize interaction of mesolimbic and nigostriatnoy DA systems controlled by prefrontal and motor cortex. Together with the motor cortex, substantia nigra displays information in the brainstem and spinal cord to implementation of behavior. Motivation states are formed in the interaction of neurohormonal and neuropeptide systems by monoaminergic systems of brain. Emotional states are formed by monoaminergic systems of the mid-brain, where the leading role belongs to the mesolimbic DA system. The emotional and motivation state of the encoded specific epigenetic molecular and chemical pattern of neuron.

Neural Darwinism and consciousness.

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Seth, Anil K; Baars, Bernard J

2005-03-01

Neural Darwinism (ND) is a large scale selectionist theory of brain development and function that has been hypothesized to relate to consciousness. According to ND, consciousness is entailed by reentrant interactions among neuronal populations in the thalamocortical system (the 'dynamic core'). These interactions, which permit high-order discriminations among possible core states, confer selective advantages on organisms possessing them by linking current perceptual events to a past history of value-dependent learning. Here, we assess the consistency of ND with 16 widely recognized properties of consciousness, both physiological (for example, consciousness is associated with widespread, relatively fast, low amplitude interactions in the thalamocortical system), and phenomenal (for example, consciousness involves the existence of a private flow of events available only to the experiencing subject). While no theory accounts fully for all of these properties at present, we find that ND and its recent extensions fare well.

Corticothalamic Synaptic Noise as a Mechanism for Selective Attention in Thalamic Neurons

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Béhuret, Sébastien; Deleuze, Charlotte; Bal, Thierry

2015-01-01

A reason why the thalamus is more than a passive gateway for sensory signals is that two-third of the synapses of thalamocortical neurons are directly or indirectly related to the activity of corticothalamic axons. While the responses of thalamocortical neurons evoked by sensory stimuli are well characterized, with ON- and OFF-center receptive field structures, the prevalence of synaptic noise resulting from neocortical feedback in intracellularly recorded thalamocortical neurons in vivo has attracted little attention. However, in vitro and modeling experiments point to its critical role for the integration of sensory signals. Here we combine our recent findings in a unified framework suggesting the hypothesis that corticothalamic synaptic activity is adapted to modulate the transfer efficiency of thalamocortical neurons during selective attention at three different levels: First, on ionic channels by interacting with intrinsic membrane properties, second at the neuron level by impacting on the input-output gain, and third even more effectively at the cell assembly level by boosting the information transfer of sensory features encoded in thalamic subnetworks. This top-down population control is achieved by tuning the correlations in subthreshold membrane potential fluctuations and is adapted to modulate the transfer of sensory features encoded by assemblies of thalamocortical relay neurons. We thus propose that cortically-controlled (de-)correlation of subthreshold noise is an efficient and swift dynamic mechanism for selective attention in the thalamus. PMID:26733818

Corticothalamic Synaptic Noise as a Mechanism for Selective Attention in Thalamic Neurons.

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Béhuret, Sébastien; Deleuze, Charlotte; Bal, Thierry

2015-01-01

A reason why the thalamus is more than a passive gateway for sensory signals is that two-third of the synapses of thalamocortical neurons are directly or indirectly related to the activity of corticothalamic axons. While the responses of thalamocortical neurons evoked by sensory stimuli are well characterized, with ON- and OFF-center receptive field structures, the prevalence of synaptic noise resulting from neocortical feedback in intracellularly recorded thalamocortical neurons in vivo has attracted little attention. However, in vitro and modeling experiments point to its critical role for the integration of sensory signals. Here we combine our recent findings in a unified framework suggesting the hypothesis that corticothalamic synaptic activity is adapted to modulate the transfer efficiency of thalamocortical neurons during selective attention at three different levels: First, on ionic channels by interacting with intrinsic membrane properties, second at the neuron level by impacting on the input-output gain, and third even more effectively at the cell assembly level by boosting the information transfer of sensory features encoded in thalamic subnetworks. This top-down population control is achieved by tuning the correlations in subthreshold membrane potential fluctuations and is adapted to modulate the transfer of sensory features encoded by assemblies of thalamocortical relay neurons. We thus propose that cortically-controlled (de-)correlation of subthreshold noise is an efficient and swift dynamic mechanism for selective attention in the thalamus.

Corticothalamic Synaptic Noise as a Mechanism for Selective Attention in Thalamic Neurons

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Sébastien eBéhuret

2015-12-01

Full Text Available A reason why the thalamus is more than a passive gateway for sensory signals is that two-third of the synapses of thalamocortical neurons are directly or indirectly related to the activity of corticothalamic axons. While the responses of thalamocortical neurons evoked by sensory stimuli are well characterized, with ON- and OFF-center receptive field structures, the prevalence of synaptic noise resulting from neocortical feedback in intracellularly recorded thalamocortical neurons in vivo has attracted little attention. However, in vitro and modeling experiments point to its critical role for the integration of sensory signals. Here we combine our recent findings in a unified framework suggesting the hypothesis that corticothalamic synaptic activity is adapted to modulate the transfer efficiency of thalamocortical neurons during selective attention at three different levels: First, on ionic channels by interacting with intrinsic membrane properties, second at the neuron level by impacting on the input-output gain, and third even more effectively at the cell assembly level by boosting the information transfer of sensory features encoded in thalamic subnetworks. This top-down population control is achieved by tuning the correlations in subthreshold membrane potential fluctuations and is adapted to modulate the transfer of sensory features encoded by assemblies of thalamocortical relay neurons. We thus propose that cortically-controlled (de-correlation of subthreshold noise is an efficient and swift dynamic mechanism for selective attention in the thalamus.

Regional structural differences across functionally parcellated Brodmann areas of human primary somatosensory cortex.

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Sánchez-Panchuelo, Rosa-María; Besle, Julien; Mougin, Olivier; Gowland, Penny; Bowtell, Richard; Schluppeck, Denis; Francis, Susan

2014-06-01

Ultra-high-field (UHF) MRI is ideally suited for structural and functional imaging of the brain. High-resolution structural MRI can be used to map the anatomical boundaries between functional domains of the brain by identifying changes related to the pattern of myelination within cortical gray matter, opening up the possibility to study the relationship between functional domains and underlying structure in vivo. In a recent study, we demonstrated the correspondence between functional (based on retinotopic mapping) and structural (based on changes in T2(⁎)-weighted images linked to myelination) parcellations of the primary visual cortex (V1) in vivo at 7T (Sanchez-Panchuelo et al., 2012b). Here, we take advantage of the improved BOLD CNR and high spatial resolution achievable at 7T to study regional structural variations across the functionally defined areas within the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) in individual subjects. Using a traveling wave fMRI paradigm to map the internal somatotopic representation of the index, middle, and ring fingers in S1, we were able to identify multiple map reversals at the tip and base, corresponding to the boundaries between Brodmann areas 3a, 3b, 1 and 2. Based on high resolution structural MRI data acquired in the same subjects, we inspected these functionally-parcellated Brodmann areas for differences in cortical thickness and MR contrast measures (magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) and signal intensity in phase sensitive inversion recovery (PSIR) images) that are sensitive to myelination. Consistent area-related differences in cortical thickness and MTR/PSIR measurements were found across subjects. However these measures did not have sufficient sensitivity to allow definition of areal boundaries. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Synaptic and Cellular Organization of Layer 1 of the Developing Rat Somatosensory Cortex

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Shruti eMuralidhar

2014-01-01

Full Text Available We have performed a systematic and quantitative study of the neuronal and synaptic organisation of neocortical layer 1 in the somatosensory cortex in juvenile rats (P13 – P16 using multi-neuron patch-clamp and 3D morphology reconstructions. We used both subjective expert based and objective classification to establish distinct morphological groups. According to expert based subjective classification, the neurons were classified into six morphological types: (1 the dense axon neurogliaform cell (NGC-DA and (2 a sparse axon neurogliaform cell (NGC-SA, (3 the horizontal axon cell (HAC and (4 those with descending axonal colaterals (DAC, (5 the large axon cell (LAC and (6 the small axon cell (SAC. We also used objective supervised and unsupervised analyses that confirmed 4 out of the 6 expert proposed groups, namely, DAC, HAC, LAC and a combined NGC. The cells were also classified into 5 electrophysiological types based on the Petilla convention; classical non-adapting (cNAC, burst non-adapting (bNAC, classical adapting (cAC, classical stuttering (cSTUT and classical irregular spiking (cIR. The most common electrophysiological type was the cNAC type (40% and the most commonly encountered morpho-electrical type of neuron was the NGC-DA - cNAC. Layer 1 cells are connected by GABAergic inhibitory synaptic connections with a 7.9% connection probability, as well gap junctions with 5.2% connection probability. Most synaptic connections were mediated by both GABAA and GABAB receptors (62.6%, as observed from the response characteristics to single pulse and train stimulations. A smaller fraction of synaptic connections were mediated exclusively by GABAA (15.4% or GABAB (21.8% receptors. Based on the morphological reconstructions, we found multi-synapse connections with an average of 9 putative synapses per connection. These putative touches were widely distributed with 39% on somata and 61% on dendrites.

Factors Affecting Volume Changes of the Somatosensory Cortex in Patients with Spinal Cord Injury: To Be Considered for Future Neuroprosthetic Design

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Yvonne Höller

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Spinal cord injury (SCI leads to severe chronic disability, but also to secondary adaptive changes upstream to the injury in the brain which are most likely induced due to the lack of afferent information. These neuroplastic changes are a potential target for innovative therapies such as neuroprostheses, e.g., by stimulation in order to evoke sensation or in order to suppress phantom limb pain. Diverging results on gray matter atrophy have been reported in patients with SCI. Detectability of atrophy seems to depend on the selection of the regions of interest, while whole-brain approaches are not sensitive enough. In this study, we discussed previous research approaches and analyzed differential atrophic changes in incomplete SCI using manual segmentation of the somatosensory cortex. Patients with incomplete SCI (ASIA C-D, with cervical (N = 5 and thoracic (N = 6 injury were included. Time since injury was ≤12 months in 7 patients, and 144, 152, 216, and 312 months in the other patients. Age at the injury was ≤26 years in 4 patients and ≥50 years in 7 patients. A sample of 12 healthy controls was included in the study. In contrast to all previous studies that used voxel-based morphometry, we performed manual segmentation of the somatosensory cortex in the postcentral gyrus from structural magnetic resonance images and normalized the calculated volumes against the sum of volumes of an automated whole-head segmentation. Volumes were smaller in patients than in controls (p = 0.011, and as a tendency, female patients had smaller volumes than male patients (p = 0.017, uncorrected. No effects of duration (subacute vs. chronic, level of lesion (cervical vs. thoracic, region (left vs. right S1, and age at onset (≤26 vs. ≥50 years was found. Our results demonstrate volume loss of S1 in incomplete SCI and encourage further research with larger sample sizes on volumetric changes in the acute and chronic stage of SCI, in

Acute hypotension in a patient undergoing posttraumatic cervical spine fusion with somatosensory and motor-evoked potential monitoring while under total intravenous anesthesia: a case report.

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Cann, David F

2009-02-01

Hypotension should be vigilantly prevented in patients with spinal cord injury. Recent advances in neurological, intraoperative monitoring techniques have allowed Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists to assess the effects of spinal cord ischemia and compression as they occur. This case report describes a young, healthy man who sustained a cervical spine fracture and was scheduled for anterior spinal fusion with somatosensory and motor-evoked potential (MEP) monitoring while under total intravenous anesthesia. This patient experienced a brief period of intraoperative hypotension with evidence of abnormal MEPs. A wake-up test was performed, which showed normal functioning, and the case resumed an uneventful course. Although this scenario resulted in no neurological sequelae, the effects of spinal cord ischemia due to hypotension can lead to permanent, devastating motor and sensory damage.

The Intrinsic Electrophysiological Properties of Mammalian Neurons: Insights into Central Nervous System Function

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Llinas, Rodolfo R.

1988-12-01

This article reviews the electroresponsive properties of single neurons in the mammalian central nervous system (CNS). In some of these cells the ionic conductances responsible for their excitability also endow them with autorhythmic electrical oscillatory properties. Chemical or electrical synaptic contacts between these neurons often result in network oscillations. In such networks, autorhytmic neurons may act as true oscillators (as pacemakers) or as resonators (responding preferentially to certain firing frequencies). Oscillations and resonance in the CNS are proposed to have diverse functional roles, such as (i) determining global functional states (for example, sleep-wakefulness or attention), (ii) timing in motor coordination, and (iii) specifying connectivity during development. Also, oscillation, especially in the thalamo-cortical circuits, may be related to certain neurological and psychiatric disorders. This review proposes that the autorhythmic electrical properties of central neurons and their connectivity form the basis for an intrinsic functional coordinate system that provides internal context to sensory input.

Relationship between median nerve somatosensory evoked potentials and spinal cord injury levels in patients with quadriplegia.

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de Arruda Serra Gaspar, M I F; Cliquet, A; Fernandes Lima, V M; de Abreu, D C C

2009-05-01

Cross-sectional study. To observe if there is a relationship between the level of injury by the American Spinal Cord Injury Association (ASIA) and cortical somatosensory evoked potential (SSEP) recordings of the median nerve in patients with quadriplegia. Rehabilitation Outpatient Clinic at the university hospital in Brazil. Fourteen individuals with quadriplegia and 8 healthy individuals were evaluated. Electrophysiological assessment of the median nerve was performed by evoked potential equipment. The injury level was obtained by ASIA. N(9), N(13) and N(20) were analyzed based on the presence or absence of responses. The parameters used for analyzing these responses were the latency and the amplitude. Data were analyzed using mixed-effect models. N(9) responses were found in all patients with quadriplegia with a similar latency and amplitude observed in healthy individuals; N(13) responses were not found in any patients with quadriplegia. N(20) responses were not found in C5 patients with quadriplegia but it was present in C6 and C7 patients. Their latencies were similar to healthy individuals (P>0.05) but the amplitudes were decreased (P<0.05). This study suggests that the SSEP responses depend on the injury level, considering that the individuals with C6 and C7 injury levels, both complete and incomplete, presented SSEP recordings in the cortical area. It also showed a relationship between the level of spinal cord injury assessed by ASIA and the median nerve SSEP responses, through the latency and amplitude recordings.

Resting-State Brain and the FTO Obesity Risk Allele: Default Mode, Sensorimotor, and Salience Network Connectivity Underlying Different Somatosensory Integration and Reward Processing between Genotypes.

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Olivo, Gaia; Wiemerslage, Lyle; Nilsson, Emil K; Solstrand Dahlberg, Linda; Larsen, Anna L; Olaya Búcaro, Marcela; Gustafsson, Veronica P; Titova, Olga E; Bandstein, Marcus; Larsson, Elna-Marie; Benedict, Christian; Brooks, Samantha J; Schiöth, Helgi B

2016-01-01

Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the fat mass and obesity associated (FTO) gene are linked to obesity, but how these SNPs influence resting-state neural activation is unknown. Few brain-imaging studies have investigated the influence of obesity-related SNPs on neural activity, and no study has investigated resting-state connectivity patterns. We tested connectivity within three, main resting-state networks: default mode (DMN), sensorimotor (SMN), and salience network (SN) in 30 male participants, grouped based on genotype for the rs9939609 FTO SNP, as well as punishment and reward sensitivity measured by the Behavioral Inhibition (BIS) and Behavioral Activation System (BAS) questionnaires. Because obesity is associated with anomalies in both systems, we calculated a BIS/BAS ratio (BBr) accounting for features of both scores. A prominence of BIS over BAS (higher BBr) resulted in increased connectivity in frontal and paralimbic regions. These alterations were more evident in the obesity-associated AA genotype, where a high BBr was also associated with increased SN connectivity in dopaminergic circuitries, and in a subnetwork involved in somatosensory integration regarding food. Participants with AA genotype and high BBr, compared to corresponding participants in the TT genotype, also showed greater DMN connectivity in regions involved in the processing of food cues, and in the SMN for regions involved in visceral perception and reward-based learning. These findings suggest that neural connectivity patterns influence the sensitivity toward punishment and reward more closely in the AA carriers, predisposing them to developing obesity. Our work explains a complex interaction between genetics, neural patterns, and behavioral measures in determining the risk for obesity and may help develop individually-tailored strategies for obesity prevention.

Tactile interactions activate mirror system regions in the human brain.

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McKyton, Ayelet

2011-12-07

Communicating with others is essential for the development of a society. Although types of communications, such as language and visual gestures, were thoroughly investigated in the past, little research has been done to investigate interactions through touch. To study this we used functional magnetic resonance imaging. Twelve participants were scanned with their eyes covered while stroking four kinds of items, representing different somatosensory stimuli: a human hand, a realistic rubber hand, an object, and a simple texture. Although the human and the rubber hands had the same overall shape, in three regions there was significantly more blood oxygen level dependent activation when touching the real hand: the anterior medial prefrontal cortex, the ventral premotor cortex, and the posterior superior temporal cortex. The last two regions are part of the mirror network and are known to be activated through visual interactions such as gestures. Interestingly, in this study, these areas were activated through a somatosensory interaction. A control experiment was performed to eliminate confounds of temperature, texture, and imagery, suggesting that the activation in these areas was correlated with the touch of a human hand. These results reveal the neuronal network working behind human tactile interactions, and highlight the participation of the mirror system in such functions.

Hypergravity exposure decreases gamma-aminobutyric acid immunoreactivity in axon terminals contacting pyramidal cells in the rat somatosensory cortex: a quantitative immunocytochemical image analysis

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D'Amelio, F.; Wu, L. C.; Fox, R. A.; Daunton, N. G.; Corcoran, M. L.; Polyakov, I.

1998-01-01

Quantitative evaluation of gamma-aminobutyric acid immunoreactivity (GABA-IR) in the hindlimb representation of the rat somatosensory cortex after 14 days of exposure to hypergravity (hyper-G) was conducted by using computer-assisted image processing. The area of GABA-IR axosomatic terminals apposed to pyramidal cells of cortical layer V was reduced in rats exposed to hyper-G compared with control rats, which were exposed either to rotation alone or to vivarium conditions. Based on previous immunocytochemical and behavioral studies, we suggest that this reduction is due to changes in sensory feedback information from muscle receptors. Consequently, priorities for muscle recruitment are altered at the cortical level, and a new pattern of muscle activity is thus generated. It is proposed that the reduction observed in GABA-IR of the terminal area around pyramidal neurons is the immunocytochemical expression of changes in the activity of GABAergic cells that participate in reprogramming motor outputs to achieve effective movement control in response to alterations in the afferent information.

Simultaneous acoustic stimulation of human primary and secondary somatosensory cortices using transcranial focused ultrasound.

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Lee, Wonhye; Chung, Yong An; Jung, Yujin; Song, In-Uk; Yoo, Seung-Schik

2016-10-26

Transcranial focused ultrasound (FUS) is gaining momentum as a novel non-invasive brain stimulation method, with promising potential for superior spatial resolution and depth penetration compared to transcranial magnetic stimulation or transcranial direct current stimulation. We examined the presence of tactile sensations elicited by FUS stimulation of two separate brain regions in humans-the primary (SI) and secondary (SII) somatosensory areas of the hand, as guided by individual-specific functional magnetic resonance imaging data. Under image-guidance, acoustic stimulations were delivered to the SI and SII areas either separately or simultaneously. The SII areas were divided into sub-regions that are activated by four types of external tactile sensations to the palmar side of the right hand-vibrotactile, pressure, warmth, and coolness. Across the stimulation conditions (SI only, SII only, SI and SII simultaneously), participants reported various types of tactile sensations that arose from the hand contralateral to the stimulation, such as the palm/back of the hand or as single/neighboring fingers. The type of tactile sensations did not match the sensations that are associated with specific sub-regions in the SII. The neuro-stimulatory effects of FUS were transient and reversible, and the procedure did not cause any adverse changes or discomforts in the subject's mental/physical status. The use of multiple FUS transducers allowed for simultaneous stimulation of the SI/SII in the same hemisphere and elicited various tactile sensations in the absence of any external sensory stimuli. Stimulation of the SII area alone could also induce perception of tactile sensations. The ability to stimulate multiple brain areas in a spatially restricted fashion can be used to study causal relationships between regional brain activities and their cognitive/behavioral outcomes.

Primary somatosensory/motor cortical thickness distinguishes paresthesia-dominant from pain-dominant carpal tunnel syndrome.

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Maeda, Yumi; Kettner, Norman; Kim, Jieun; Kim, Hyungjun; Cina, Stephen; Malatesta, Cristina; Gerber, Jessica; McManus, Claire; Libby, Alexandra; Mezzacappa, Pia; Mawla, Ishtiaq; Morse, Leslie R; Audette, Joseph; Napadow, Vitaly

2016-05-01

Paresthesia-dominant and pain-dominant subgroups have been noted in carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), a peripheral neuropathic disorder characterized by altered primary somatosensory/motor (S1/M1) physiology. We aimed to investigate whether brain morphometry dissociates these subgroups. Subjects with CTS were evaluated with nerve conduction studies, whereas symptom severity ratings were used to allocate subjects into paresthesia-dominant (CTS-paresthesia), pain-dominant (CTS-pain), and pain/paresthesia nondominant (not included in further analysis) subgroups. Structural brain magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired at 3T using a multiecho MPRAGE T1-weighted pulse sequence, and gray matter cortical thickness was calculated across the entire brain using validated, automated methods. CTS-paresthesia subjects demonstrated reduced median sensory nerve conduction velocity (P = 0.05) compared with CTS-pain subjects. In addition, cortical thickness in precentral and postcentral gyri (S1/M1 hand area) contralateral to the more affected hand was significantly reduced in CTS-paresthesia subgroup compared with CTS-pain subgroup. Moreover, in CTS-paresthesia subjects, precentral cortical thickness was negatively correlated with paresthesia severity (r(34) = -0.40, P = 0.016) and positively correlated with median nerve sensory velocity (r(36) = 0.51, P = 0.001), but not with pain severity. Conversely, in CTS-pain subjects, contralesional S1 (r(9) = 0.62, P = 0.042) and M1 (r(9) = 0.61, P = 0.046) cortical thickness were correlated with pain severity, but not median nerve velocity or paresthesia severity. This double dissociation in somatotopically specific S1/M1 areas suggests a neuroanatomical substrate for symptom-based CTS subgroups. Such fine-grained subgrouping of CTS may lead to improved personalized therapeutic approaches, based on superior characterization of the linkage between peripheral and central neuroplasticity.

Neurobiological evidence for attention bias to food, emotional dysregulation, disinhibition and deficient somatosensory awareness in obesity with binge eating disorder.

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Aviram-Friedman, Roni; Astbury, Nerys; Ochner, Christopher N; Contento, Isobel; Geliebter, Allan

2018-02-01

To refine the biobehavioral markers of binge eating disorder (BED). We conducted fMRI brain scans using images of high energy processed food (HEPF), low energy unprocessed food (LEUF), or non-foods (NF) in 42 adults (obese with BED [obese -BED; n=13] and obese with no BED [obese non-BED; n=29]) selected via ads. Two blood oxygenated level dependent (BOLD) signal contrast maps were examined: food versus nonfood, and HEPF versus LEUF. In addition, score differences on the disinhibition scale were correlated with BOLD signals. food versus nonfood showed greater BOLD activity for BED in emotional, motivational and somatosensory brain areas: insula, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), Brodmann areas (BA) 19 & 32, inferior parietal lobule (IPL), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), and lingual, postcentral, middle temporal and cuneate gyri (p≤0.005; k≥88). HEPF versus LEUF showed greater BOLD activity for BED in inhibitory brain regions: BA 6, middle and superior frontal gyri (pFood images elicited neural activity indicating attention bias (cuneate & PCG), emotion dysregulation (BA 19 & 32), and disinhibition (MFG, BA6 & SFG) in obese with BED. These may help tailor a treatment for the obesity with BED phenotype. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Classic cadherin expressions balance postnatal neuronal positioning and dendrite dynamics to elaborate the specific cytoarchitecture of the mouse cortical area.

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Egusa, Saki F; Inoue, Yukiko U; Asami, Junko; Terakawa, Youhei W; Hoshino, Mikio; Inoue, Takayoshi

2016-04-01

A unique feature of the mammalian cerebral cortex is in its tangential parcellation via anatomical and functional differences. However, the cellular and/or molecular machinery involved in cortical arealization remain largely unknown. Here we map expression profiles of classic cadherins in the postnatal mouse barrel field of the primary somatosensory area (S1BF) and generate a novel bacterial artificial chromosome transgenic (BAC-Tg) mouse line selectively illuminating nuclei of cadherin-6 (Cdh6)-expressing layer IV barrel neurons to confirm that tangential cellular assemblage of S1BF is established by postnatal day 5 (P5). When we electroporate the cadherins expressed in both barrel neurons and thalamo-cortical axon (TCA) terminals limited to the postnatal layer IV neurons, S1BF cytoarchitecture is disorganized with excess elongation of dendrites at P7. Upon delivery of dominant negative molecules for all classic cadherins, tangential cellular positioning and biased dendritic arborization of barrel neurons are significantly altered. These results underscore the value of classic cadherin-mediated sorting among neuronal cell bodies, dendrites and TCA terminals in postnatally elaborating the S1BF-specific tangential cytoarchitecture. Additionally, how the "protocortex" machinery affects classic cadherin expression profiles in the process of cortical arealization is examined and discussed. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd and the Japan Neuroscience Society. All rights reserved.

The expression and activity of β-catenin in the thalamus and its projections to the cerebral cortex in the mouse embryo

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Pratt Thomas

2012-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The mammalian thalamus relays sensory information from the periphery to the cerebral cortex for cognitive processing via the thalamocortical tract. The thalamocortical tract forms during embryonic development controlled by mechanisms that are not fully understood. β-catenin is a nuclear and cytosolic protein that transduces signals from secreted signaling molecules to regulate both cell motility via the cytoskeleton and gene expression in the nucleus. In this study we tested whether β-catenin is likely to play a role in thalamocortical connectivity by examining its expression and activity in developing thalamic neurons and their axons. Results At embryonic day (E15.5, the time when thalamocortical axonal projections are forming, we found that the thalamus is a site of particularly high β-catenin mRNA and protein expression. As well as being expressed at high levels in thalamic cell bodies, β-catenin protein is enriched in the axons and growth cones of thalamic axons and its growth cone concentration is sensitive to Netrin-1. Using mice carrying the β-catenin reporter BAT-gal we find high levels of reporter activity in the thalamus. Further, Netrin-1 induces BAT-gal reporter expression and upregulates levels of endogenous transcripts encoding β-actin and L1 proteins in cultured thalamic cells. We found that β-catenin mRNA is enriched in thalamic axons and its 3'UTR is phylogenetically conserved and is able to direct heterologous mRNAs along the thalamic axon, where they can be translated. Conclusion We provide evidence that β-catenin protein is likely to be an important player in thalamocortcial development. It is abundant both in the nucleus and in the growth cones of post-mitotic thalamic cells during the development of thalamocortical connectivity and β-catenin mRNA is targeted to thalamic axons and growth cones where it could potentially be translated. β-catenin is involved in transducing the Netrin-1 signal to

The coincident activation of lemniscal and paralemniscal inputs can drive synaptic plasticity in layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons of the mouse somatosensory cortex in vivo

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Vassilis Kehayas

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Structural plasticity in the somatosensory cortex is maintained throughout life. In adult animals structural changes occur at the level of dendritic spines and axonal boutons in response to alterations in sensory experience. The causal relationship between synaptic activity and structural changes, however, is not clear. Hebbian-plasticity models predict that synapses will be stabilized at the nodes of neuronal networks that display high levels of coincident activity. Here, we aim at studying the effects of a targeted increase in coincident activity between segregated inputs on pyramidal cell synapses of the mouse somatosensory barrel cortex in vivo. Supragranular layers of the barrel cortex receive anatomically distinct inputs from two thalamic pathways: the ‘lemniscal’ pathway that originates in the ventral posteromedial (VPM nucleus and projects in a whisker-specific fashion to the barrel columns, and the ‘paralemniscal’ pathway that originates in the posteromedial (POm nucleus and projects to the cortex in a non-specific manner. Previous work from our lab shows that rhythmic (8Hz whisker stimulation-evoked LTP (RWS-LTP in layer (L 2/3 pyramidal cells relies on the combined activity of lemniscal and paralemniscal pathways. Here, we targeted ChR2 expression to POm neurons using AAV-mediated gene transfer in order to optically control the activity of those inputs. As a first step, we show that photostimulation of the POm nucleus induces NMDA-dependent, sub-threshold responses in L2/3 pyramidal cells similar to those that are required for the induction of RWS-LTP. In addition, simultaneous photostimulation of POm neurons together with whisker stimulation at low frequencies (1Hz can also elicit LTP, suggesting that coincident lemniscal and paralemniscal input can drive LTP induction. Next, we combined the ChR2-tdTomato expression in POm neurons with sparse AAV-mediated eGFP expression in L2/3 pyramidal cells in order to study the effects

Modelagem neurocomputacional do circuito tálamo-cortical: implicações para compreensão do transtorno de défi cit de atenção e hiperatividade A neurocomputational model for the thalamocortical loop: towards a better understanding of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

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Daniele Q.M. Madureira

2007-12-01

in ADHD. PURPOSE: Elaborating a neurocomputational model from biochemical knowledge of mesocortical and mesotalamic dopamine systems, to investigate how different levels of mesothalamic dopamine influence the thalamocortical loop, leading to some attention deficits observed in ADHD. METHOD: First, we model physiological properties of thalamic neurons with a set of mathematical equations. Next, we simulate computationally the modeled thalamocortical loop under different levels of mesothalamic dopamine, and also the mesocortical dopaminergic decrease. RESULTS: Low levels of mesothalamic dopamine hinders the attentional shift and, high levels of such neuromodulator lead to distraction. When such alterations occur together with a decrease in the mesocortical dopamine level, the attention deficit turns into incapacity of perceiving environmental stimuli, due to a no winner competition between low activated thalamic areas. Inattention in ADHD also has its origins in dopaminergic disturbs throughout the mesothalamic pathway, which enhance a high focusing or do not allow the attention focus consolidation. CONCLUSION: In ADHD, the inattention is related to dopaminergic alterations that are not restricted to the mesocortical system.

Contactin-5 expression during development and wiring of the thalamocortical system

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kleijer, K T E; Zuko, A; Shimoda, Y; Watanabe, K; Burbach, J P H

2015-01-01

The gene encoding the neural cell adhesion molecule Cntn5 (a.k.a. NB-2) has been put forward as a candidate in neurodevelopmental disorders, like autism spectrum disorder (ASD), by recent genetic findings. Little is known about the expression pattern and function of the gene, and its functional

Ketamine attenuates the glutamatergic neurotransmission in the ventral posteromedial nucleus slices of rats.

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Fu, Bao; Liu, Chengxi; Zhang, Yajun; Fu, Xiaoyun; Zhang, Lin; Yu, Tian

2017-08-23

Ketamine is a frequently used intravenous anesthetic, which can reversibly induce loss of consciousness (LOC). Previous studies have demonstrated that thalamocortical system is critical for information transmission and integration in the brain. The ventral posteromedial nucleus (VPM) is a critical component of thalamocortical system. Glutamate is an important excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain and may be involved in ketamine-induced LOC. The study used whole-cell patch-clamp to observe the effect of ketamine (30 μM-1000 μM) on glutamatergic neurotransmission in VPM slices. Ketamine significantly decreased the amplitude of glutamatergic spontaneous excitatory postsynaptic currents (sEPSCs), but only higher concentration of ketamine (300 μM and 1000 μM) suppressed the frequency of sEPSCs. Ketamine (100 μM-1000 μM) also decreased the amplitude of glutamatergic miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents (mEPSCs), without altering the frequency. In VPM neurons, ketamine attenuates the glutamatergic neurotransmission mainly through postsynaptic mechanism and action potential may be involved in the process.

Physiological complexity and system adaptability: evidence from postural control dynamics of older adults.

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Manor, Brad; Costa, Madalena D; Hu, Kun; Newton, Elizabeth; Starobinets, Olga; Kang, Hyun Gu; Peng, C K; Novak, Vera; Lipsitz, Lewis A

2010-12-01

The degree of multiscale complexity in human behavioral regulation, such as that required for postural control, appears to decrease with advanced aging or disease. To help delineate causes and functional consequences of complexity loss, we examined the effects of visual and somatosensory impairment on the complexity of postural sway during quiet standing and its relationship to postural adaptation to cognitive dual tasking. Participants of the MOBILIZE Boston Study were classified into mutually exclusive groups: controls [intact vision and foot somatosensation, n = 299, 76 ± 5 (SD) yr old], visual impairment only (Postural sway (i.e., center-of-pressure) dynamics were assessed during quiet standing and cognitive dual tasking, and a complexity index was quantified using multiscale entropy analysis. Postural sway speed and area, which did not correlate with complexity, were also computed. During quiet standing, the complexity index (mean ± SD) was highest in controls (9.5 ± 1.2) and successively lower in the visual (9.1 ± 1.1), somatosensory (8.6 ± 1.6), and combined (7.8 ± 1.3) impairment groups (P = 0.001). Dual tasking resulted in increased sway speed and area but reduced complexity (P postural sway speed from quiet standing to dual-tasking conditions. Sensory impairments contributed to decreased postural sway complexity, which reflected reduced adaptive capacity of the postural control system. Relatively low baseline complexity may, therefore, indicate control systems that are more vulnerable to cognitive and other stressors.

Association of Thalamic Dysconnectivity and Conversion to Psychosis in Youth and Young Adults at Elevated Clinical Risk

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Anticevic, Alan; Haut, Kristen; Murray, John D.; Repovs, Grega; Yang, Genevieve J.; Diehl, Caroline; McEwen, Sarah C.; Bearden, Carrie E.; Addington, Jean; Goodyear, Bradley; Cadenhead, Kristin S.; Mirzakhanian, Heline; Cornblatt, Barbara A.; Olvet, Doreen; Mathalon, Daniel H.; McGlashan, Thomas H.; Perkins, Diana O.; Belger, Aysenil; Seidman, Larry J.; Tsuang, Ming T.; van Erp, Theo G. M.; Walker, Elaine F; Hamann, Stephan; Woods, Scott W; Qiu, Maolin; Cannon, Tyrone D.

2016-01-01

IMPORTANCE Severe neuropsychiatric conditions, such as schizophrenia, affect distributed neural computations. One candidate system profoundly altered in chronic schizophrenia involves the thalamocortical networks. It is widely acknowledged that schizophrenia is a neurodevelopmental disorder that likely affects the brain before onset of clinical symptoms. However, no investigation has tested whether thalamocortical connectivity is altered in individuals at risk for psychosis or whether this pattern is more severe in individuals who later develop full-blown illness. OBJECTIVES To determine whether baseline thalamocortical connectivity differs between individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis and healthy controls, whether this pattern is more severe in those who later convert to full-blown illness, and whether magnitude of thalamocortical dysconnectivity is associated with baseline prodromal symptom severity. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In this multicenter, 2-year follow-up, case-control study, we examined 397 participants aged 12–35 years of age (243 individuals at clinical high risk of psychosis, of whom 21 converted to full-blown illness, and 154 healthy controls). The baseline scan dates were January 15, 2010, to April 30, 2012. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Whole-brain thalamic functional connectivity maps were generated using individuals’ anatomically defined thalamic seeds, measured using resting-state functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging. RESULTS Using baseline magnetic resonance images, we identified thalamocortical dysconnectivity in the 243 individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis, which was particularly pronounced in the 21 participants who converted to full-blown illness. The pattern involved widespread hypoconnectivity between the thalamus and prefrontal and cerebellar areas, which was more prominent in those who converted to full-blown illness (t173 = 3.77, P < .001, Hedge g = 0.88). Conversely, there was marked

Barrels XXIX: Barrels go Hollywood.

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Evans, Mathew H; Brumberg, Joshua C

2017-03-01

Barrels XXIX brought together researchers focusing on the rodent barrel cortex and associated systems. The meeting revolved around three themes: thalamocortical interactions in motor control, touch in rodent, monkey, and humans, and the nature of the multisensory computations the brain makes. Over two days these topics were covered as well as many more presentations that focused on the physiology, behavior, and development of the rodent whisker-to-barrel cortex system.

Two Mechanisms of Sensorimotor Set Adaptation to Inclined Stance

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Kyoung-Hyun Lee

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Orientation of posture relative to the environment depends on the contributions from the somatosensory, vestibular, and visual systems mixed in varying proportions to produce a sensorimotor set. Here, we probed the sensorimotor set composition using a postural adaptation task in which healthy adults stood on an inclined surface for 3 min. Upon returning to a horizontal surface, participants displayed a range of postural orientations – from an aftereffect that consisted of a large forward postural lean to an upright stance with little or no aftereffect. It has been hypothesized that the post-incline postural change depends on each individual’s sensorimotor set: whether the set was dominated by the somatosensory or vestibular system: Somatosensory dominance would cause the lean aftereffect whereas vestibular dominance should steer stance posture toward upright orientation. We investigated the individuals who displayed somatosensory dominance by manipulating their attention to spatial orientation. We introduced a distraction condition in which subjects concurrently performed a difficult arithmetic subtraction task. This manipulation altered the time course of their post-incline aftereffect. When not distracted, participants returned to upright stance within the 3-min period. However, they continued leaning forward when distracted. These results suggest that the mechanism of sensorimotor set adaptation to inclined stance comprises at least two components. The first component reflects the dominant contribution from the somatosensory system. Since the postural lean was observed among these subjects even when they were not distracted, it suggests that the aftereffect is difficult to overcome. The second component includes a covert attentional component which manifests as the dissipation of the aftereffect and the return of posture to upright orientation.

Laminar microvascular transit time distribution in the mouse somatosensory cortex revealed by Dynamic Contrast Optical Coherence Tomography.

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Merkle, Conrad W; Srinivasan, Vivek J

2016-01-15

The transit time distribution of blood through the cerebral microvasculature both constrains oxygen delivery and governs the kinetics of neuroimaging signals such as blood-oxygen-level-dependent functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (BOLD fMRI). However, in spite of its importance, capillary transit time distribution has been challenging to quantify comprehensively and efficiently at the microscopic level. Here, we introduce a method, called Dynamic Contrast Optical Coherence Tomography (DyC-OCT), based on dynamic cross-sectional OCT imaging of an intravascular tracer as it passes through the field-of-view. Quantitative transit time metrics are derived from temporal analysis of the dynamic scattering signal, closely related to tracer concentration. Since DyC-OCT does not require calibration of the optical focus, quantitative accuracy is achieved even deep in highly scattering brain tissue where the focal spot degrades. After direct validation of DyC-OCT against dilution curves measured using a fluorescent plasma label in surface pial vessels, we used DyC-OCT to investigate the transit time distribution in microvasculature across the entire depth of the mouse somatosensory cortex. Laminar trends were identified, with earlier transit times and less heterogeneity in the middle cortical layers. The early transit times in the middle cortical layers may explain, at least in part, the early BOLD fMRI onset times observed in these layers. The layer-dependencies in heterogeneity may help explain how a single vascular supply manages to deliver oxygen to individual cortical layers with diverse metabolic needs. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Steady-state evoked potentials to study the processing of tactile and nociceptive somatosensory input in the human brain.

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Colon, E; Legrain, V; Mouraux, A

2012-10-01

The periodic presentation of a sensory stimulus induces, at certain frequencies of stimulation, a sustained electroencephalographic response of corresponding frequency, known as steady-state evoked potentials (SS-EP). In visual, auditory and vibrotactile modalities, studies have shown that SS-EP reflect mainly activity originating from early, modality-specific sensory cortices. Furthermore, it has been shown that SS-EP have several advantages over the recording of transient event-related brain potentials (ERP), such as a high signal-to-noise ratio, a shorter time to obtain reliable signals, and the capacity to frequency-tag the cortical activity elicited by concurrently presented sensory stimuli. Recently, we showed that SS-EP can be elicited by the selective activation of skin nociceptors and that nociceptive SS-EP reflect the activity of a population of neurons that is spatially distinct from the somatotopically-organized population of neurons underlying vibrotactile SS-EP. Hence, the recording of SS-EP offers a unique opportunity to study the cortical representation of nociception and touch in humans, and to explore their potential crossmodal interactions. Here, (1) we review available methods to achieve the rapid periodic stimulation of somatosensory afferents required to elicit SS-EP, (2) review previous studies that have characterized vibrotactile and nociceptive SS-EP, (3) discuss the nature of the recorded signals and their relationship with transient event-related potentials and (4) outline future perspectives and potential clinical applications of this technique. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Targeted deletion of neurokinin-1 receptor expressing nucleus tractus solitarii neurons precludes somatosensory depression of arterial baroreceptor-heart rate reflex.

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Potts, J T; Fong, A Y; Anguelov, P I; Lee, S; McGovern, D; Grias, I

2007-03-30

Neurokinin-1 receptor (NK1-R) expressing neurons are densely distributed throughout the nucleus tractus solitarii (NTS). However, their fundamental role in arterial baroreflex function remains debated. Previously, our group has shown that activation of contraction-sensitive somatic afferents evoke substance P (SP) release in the NTS and resets the arterial baroreflex via activation of a GABAergic NTS circuit. Based on these findings, we hypothesized that modulation of arterial baroreflex function by somatic afferents is mediated by NK1-R dependent inhibition of barosensitive NTS circuits. In the present study, SP-conjugated saporin toxin (SP-SAP) was used to ablate NK1-R expressing NTS neurons. Contraction-sensitive somatic afferents were activated by electrically-evoked muscle contraction and the arterial baroreceptor-heart rate reflex was assessed by constructing reflex curves using a decerebrate, arterially-perfused preparation. Baseline baroreflex sensitivity was significantly attenuated in SP-SAP-treated rats compared with control rats receiving either unconjugated SAP or vehicle. Muscle contraction significantly attenuated baroslope in SAP and vehicle-treated animals and shifted the baroreflex curves to higher systemic pressure. In contrast, somatic afferent stimulation failed to alter baroslope or shift the baroreflex curves in SP-SAP-treated animals. Moreover, when reflex sensitivity was partially restored in SP-SAP animals, somatic stimulation failed to attenuate baroreflex bradycardia. In contrast, SP-SAP and somatic stimulation failed to blunt the reflex bradycardia evoked by the peripheral chemoreflex. Immunohistochemistry revealed that pretreatment with SP-SAP significantly reduced the number of NK1-R expressing neurons in the caudal NTS, while sparing NK1-R expressing neurons rostral to the injection site. This was accompanied by a significant reduction in the number of glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD67) expressing neurons at equivalent levels of the

A Review of Neuropathic Pain: From Diagnostic Tests to Mechanisms

OpenAIRE

Truini, Andrea

2017-01-01

Neuropathic pain develops when the somatosensory nervous system is affected by a lesion or disease. Diagnostic tests aimed at assessing somatosensory afferent pathway damage are therefore useful for diagnosing neuropathic pain. Neuropathic pain manifests with a range of different symptoms such as ongoing burning pain, squeezing or pressure pain, paroxysmal electric shock-like sensations, stabbing pain, or mechanical dynamic allodynia. The various types of neuropathic pain are associated with ...

Characterizing the human postural control system using detrended fluctuation analysis

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Teresa Blázquez, M.; Anguiano, Marta; de Saavedra, Fernando Arias; Lallena, Antonio M.; Carpena, Pedro

2010-01-01

Detrended fluctuation analysis is used to study the behaviour of the time series of the position of the center of pressure, output from the activity of a human postural control system. The results suggest that these trajectories present a crossover in their scaling properties from persistent (for high frequencies, short-range time scale) to anti-persistent (for low frequencies, long-range time scale) behaviours. The values of the scaling exponent found for the persistent parts of the trajectories are very similar for all the cases analysed. The similarity of the results obtained for the measurements done with both eyes open and both eyes closed indicate either that the visual system may be disregarded by the postural control system, while maintaining quiet standing, or that the control mechanisms associated with each type of information (visual, vestibular and somatosensory) cannot be disentangled with this technique.

Study of the human postural control system during quiet standing using detrended fluctuation analysis

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Teresa Blázquez, M.; Anguiano, Marta; de Saavedra, Fernando Arias; Lallena, Antonio M.; Carpena, Pedro

2009-05-01

The detrended fluctuation analysis is used to study the behavior of different time series obtained from the trajectory of the center of pressure, the output of the activity of the human postural control system. The results suggest that these trajectories present two different regimes in their scaling properties: persistent (for high frequencies, short-range time scale) to antipersistent (for low frequencies, long-range time scale) behaviors. The similitude between the results obtained for the measurements, done with both eyes open and eyes closed, indicate either that the visual system may be disregarded by the postural control system while maintaining the quiet standing, or that the control mechanisms associated with each type of information (visual, vestibular and somatosensory) cannot be disentangled with the type of analysis performed here.

Functional connectivity measures after psilocybin inform a novel hypothesis of early psychosis.

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Carhart-Harris, Robin L; Leech, Robert; Erritzoe, David; Williams, Tim M; Stone, James M; Evans, John; Sharp, David J; Feilding, Amanda; Wise, Richard G; Nutt, David J

2013-11-01

Psilocybin is a classic psychedelic and a candidate drug model of psychosis. This study measured the effects of psilocybin on resting-state network and thalamocortical functional connectivity (FC) using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Fifteen healthy volunteers received intravenous infusions of psilocybin and placebo in 2 task-free resting-state scans. Primary analyses focused on changes in FC between the default-mode- (DMN) and task-positive network (TPN). Spontaneous activity in the DMN is orthogonal to spontaneous activity in the TPN, and it is well known that these networks support very different functions (ie, the DMN supports introspection, whereas the TPN supports externally focused attention). Here, independent components and seed-based FC analyses revealed increased DMN-TPN FC and so decreased DMN-TPN orthogonality after psilocybin. Increased DMN-TPN FC has been found in psychosis and meditatory states, which share some phenomenological similarities with the psychedelic state. Increased DMN-TPN FC has also been observed in sedation, as has decreased thalamocortical FC, but here we found preserved thalamocortical FC after psilocybin. Thus, we propose that thalamocortical FC may be related to arousal, whereas DMN-TPN FC is related to the separateness of internally and externally focused states. We suggest that this orthogonality is compromised in early psychosis, explaining similarities between its phenomenology and that of the psychedelic state and supporting the utility of psilocybin as a model of early psychosis.

The biology of skin wetness perception and its implications in manual function and for reproducing complex somatosensory signals in neuroprosthetics

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Ackerley, Rochelle

2017-01-01

Our perception of skin wetness is generated readily, yet humans have no known receptor (hygroreceptor) to signal this directly. It is easy to imagine the sensation of water running over our hands or the feel of rain on our skin. The synthetic sensation of wetness is thought to be produced from a combination of specific skin thermal and tactile inputs, registered through thermoreceptors and mechanoreceptors, respectively. The present review explores how thermal and tactile afference from the periphery can generate the percept of wetness centrally. We propose that the main signals include information about skin cooling, signaled primarily by thinly myelinated thermoreceptors, and rapid changes in touch, through fast-conducting, myelinated mechanoreceptors. Potential central sites for integration of these signals, and thus the perception of skin wetness, include the primary and secondary somatosensory cortices and the insula cortex. The interactions underlying these processes can also be modeled to aid in understanding and engineering the mechanisms. Furthermore, we discuss the role that sensing wetness could play in precision grip and the dexterous manipulation of objects. We expand on these lines of inquiry to the application of the knowledge in designing and creating skin sensory feedback in prosthetics. The addition of real-time, complex sensory signals would mark a significant advance in the use and incorporation of prosthetic body parts for amputees in everyday life. PMID:28123008

Cyto- and chemoarchitecture of the dorsal thalamus of the monotreme Tachyglossus aculeatus, the short beaked echidna.

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Ashwell, Ken W S; Paxinos, George

2005-12-01

We have examined the cyto- and chemoarchitecture of the dorsal thalamus of the short beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus), using Nissl and myelin staining, immunoreactivity for parvalbumin, calbindin, calretinin and non-phosphorylated neurofilament protein (SMI-32 antibody), and histochemistry for acetylcholinesterase and NADPH diaphorase. Immunohistochemical methods revealed many nuclear boundaries, which were difficult to discern with Nissl staining. Parvalbumin immunoreactive somata were concentrated in the ventral posterior, reticular, posterior, lateral and medial geniculate nuclei, while parvalbumin immunoreactivity of the neuropil was present throughout all but the midline nuclei. Large numbers of calbindin immunoreactive somata were also found within the midline thalamic nuclei, and thalamic sensory relay nuclei. Immunoreactivity for calretinin was found in many small somata within the lateral geniculate "a" nucleus, with other labelled somata found in the lateral geniculate "b" nucleus, ventral posterior medial and ventral posterior lateral nuclei. Immunoreactivity with the SMI-32 antibody was largely confined to somata and neuropil within the thalamocortical relay nuclei (ventral posterior medial and lateral nuclei, lateral and medial geniculate nuclei and the posterior thalamic nucleus). In broad terms there were many similarities between the thalamus of this monotreme and that of eutheria (e.g. disposition of somatosensory thalamus, complementarity of parvalbumin and calbindin immunoreactive structures), but there were some unique features of the thalamus of the echidna. These include the relatively small size of the thalamic reticular nucleus and the preponderance of calbindin immunoreactive neurons over parvalbumin immunoreactive neurons in the ventral posterior nucleus.

Multisensory Stimulation to Improve Low- and Higher-Level Sensory Deficits after Stroke: A Systematic Review

OpenAIRE

Tinga, Angelica Maria; Visser-Meily, Johanna Maria Augusta; van der Smagt, Maarten Jeroen; Van der Stigchel, Stefan; van Ee, Raymond; Nijboer, Tanja Cornelia Wilhelmina

2015-01-01

The aim of this systematic review was to integrate and assess evidence for the effectiveness of multisensory stimulation (i.e., stimulating at least two of the following sensory systems: visual, auditory, and somatosensory) as a possible rehabilitation method after stroke. Evidence was considered with a focus on low-level, perceptual (visual, auditory and somatosensory deficits), as well as higher-level, cognitive, sensory deficits. We referred to the electronic databases Scopus and PubMed to...

Meditation reduces pain-related neural activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, insula, secondary somatosensory cortex, and thalamus

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Nakata, Hiroki; Sakamoto, Kiwako; Kakigi, Ryusuke

2014-01-01

Recent studies have shown that meditation inhibits or relieves pain perception. To clarify the underlying mechanisms for this phenomenon, neuroimaging methods, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging, and neurophysiological methods, such as magnetoencephalography and electroencephalography, have been used. However, it has been difficult to interpret the results, because there is some paradoxical evidence. For example, some studies reported increased neural responses to pain stimulation during meditation in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and insula, whereas others showed a decrease in these regions. There have been inconsistent findings to date. Moreover, in general, since the activities of the ACC and insula are correlated with pain perception, the increase in neural activities during meditation would be related to the enhancement of pain perception rather than its reduction. These contradictions might directly contribute to the ‘mystery of meditation.’ In this review, we presented previous findings for brain regions during meditation and the anatomical changes that occurred in the brain with long-term meditation training. We then discussed the findings of previous studies that examined pain-related neural activity during meditation. We also described the brain mechanisms responsible for pain relief during meditation, and possible reasons for paradoxical evidence among previous studies. By thoroughly overviewing previous findings, we hypothesized that meditation reduces pain-related neural activity in the ACC, insula, secondary somatosensory cortex, and thalamus. We suggest that the characteristics of the modulation of this activity may depend on the kind of meditation and/or number of years of experience of meditation, which were associated with paradoxical findings among previous studies that investigated pain-related neural activities during meditation. PMID:25566158

Method for determining the schematic presentation for the cortical sulci and venous system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tatemichi, Nobuhiro; Nakano, Hirotake; Inoue, Yoshiharu.

1994-01-01

To realize the corticogram of major sulci and venous system, two different image modalities must be superposed with a minimum error : MRI, MRA and X-Ray angiography. The precise schema of cortical sulci have to become possible with the aid of the IR method of MRI that could clearly identify the sulcal system of the outer and internal surface of the hemisphere. The correspondence of the major venous system of MRI with that of angiography was carried out using several skin markers, bone structures and a deep major venous system. This corticogram was used by the neurosurgeons of the hospital for the electrode placement, the topographical identification of the cortical paroxysms and epilepsy surgery. The best argument for the accuracy of sulcal and venous schema could be offered by somato-sensory evoked potential identifying the central sulcus on the corticogram. (author)

An ancient neurotrophin receptor code; a single Runx/Cbfβ complex determines somatosensory neuron fate specification in zebrafish.

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Gau, Philia; Curtright, Andrew; Condon, Logan; Raible, David W; Dhaka, Ajay

2017-07-01

In terrestrial vertebrates such as birds and mammals, neurotrophin receptor expression is considered fundamental for the specification of distinct somatosensory neuron types where TrkA, TrkB and TrkC specify nociceptors, mechanoceptors and proprioceptors/mechanoceptors, respectively. In turn, Runx transcription factors promote neuronal fate specification by regulating neurotrophin receptor and sensory receptor expression where Runx1 mediates TrkA+ nociceptor diversification while Runx3 promotes a TrkC+ proprioceptive/mechanoceptive fate. Here, we report in zebrafish larvae that orthologs of the neurotrophin receptors in contrast to terrestrial vertebrates mark overlapping and distinct subsets of nociceptors suggesting that TrkA, TrkB and TrkC do not intrinsically promote nociceptor, mechanoceptor and proprioceptor/mechanoceptor neuronal fates, respectively. While we find that zebrafish Runx3 regulates nociceptors in contrast to terrestrial vertebrates, it shares a conserved regulatory mechanism found in terrestrial vertebrate proprioceptors/mechanoceptors in which it promotes TrkC expression and suppresses TrkB expression. We find that Cbfβ, which enhances Runx protein stability and affinity for DNA, serves as an obligate cofactor for Runx in neuronal fate determination. High levels of Runx can compensate for the loss of Cbfβ, indicating that in this context Cbfβ serves solely as a signal amplifier of Runx activity. Our data suggests an alteration/expansion of the neurotrophin receptor code of sensory neurons between larval teleost fish and terrestrial vertebrates, while the essential roles of Runx/Cbfβ in sensory neuron cell fate determination while also expanded are conserved.

Age Effect on Automatic Inhibitory Function of the Somatosensory and Motor Cortex: An MEG Study

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Chia-Hsiung Cheng

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Age-related deficiency in the top-down modulation of cognitive inhibition has been extensively documented, whereas the effects of age on a bottom-up or automatic operation of inhibitory function were less investigated. It is unknown that whether the older adults (OA’ reduced behavioral performance and neural responses are due to the insufficient bottom-up processes. Compared to behavioral assessments which have been widely used to examine the top-down control of response inhibition, electrophysiological recordings are more suitable to probe the early-stage processes of automatic inhibitory function. Sensory gating (SG, a phenomenon of attenuated neural response to the second identical stimulus in a paired-pulse paradigm, is an indicator to assess automatic inhibitory function of the sensory cortex. On the other hand, electricity-induced beta rebound oscillation in a single-pulse paradigm reflects cortical inhibition of the motor cortex. From the neurophysiological perspective, SG and beta rebound oscillation are replicable indicators to examine the automatic inhibitory function of human sensorimotor cortices. Thus, the present study aimed to use a whole-head magnetoencephalography (MEG to investigate the age-related alterations of SG function in the primary somatosensory cortex (SI and of beta rebound oscillation in the primary motor cortex (MI in 17 healthy younger and 15 older adults. The Stimulus 2/Stimulus 1 (S2/S1 amplitude ratio in response to the paired-pulse electrical stimulation to the left median nerve was used to evaluate the automatic inhibitory function of SI, and the beta rebound response in the single-pulse paradigm was used to evaluate the automatic inhibitory function of MI. Although there were no significant age-related differences found in the SI SG ratios, the MI beta rebound power was reduced and peak latency was prolonged in the OA. Furthermore, significant association between the SI SG ratio and the MI beta rebound

[Changes of somatosensory and transcranial magnetic stimulation motor evoked potentials in experimental spinal cord injury].

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Hou, Yong; Nie, Lin; Liu, Li-hong; Shao, Jun; Yuan, Yong-jian

2008-03-18

To study the changes of somatosensory evoked potential (SEP) and transcranial magnetic simulation motor evoked potential (TMS-MEP) in experimental spinal cord injury (SCI). Thirty-two rabbits were randomly divided into 4 equal groups. All rabbits were anesthetized for 90 min. A group (Group A) underwent only laminectomy of T12 without SCI, stimulation with different intensities was used to induce SEP and TMS-MEP to determine the most appropriate stimulation intensity. The EPs were recorded before and after the operation. The other 3 groups underwent laminectomy of T12 to expose the dura, and a spinal cord compressing apparatus weighing 40 g was put on the intact dura and dorsal surface of spinal cord underneath for 5, 15, and 30 min respectively (Groups B, C, and D). SEP and TMS-MEP were detected after anesthesia, after exposure of spinal cord, and 5 and 30 min, 1 and 6 h, and 1, 3, and 7 d. The latency and amplitude of each wave were measured. The data were analyzed by analysis of variance, t-test and linear correlation. Tarlov behavior score was used to assess the motor function before the operation and 1, 3, and 7 days after SCI. It was found that 100% intensity stimulus obtained stable and reliable MEP waves. Anesthetic did not influence the EPs. The amplitude of SEP began to decrease 5 min after SCI and the latency began to increase 30 min after SCI. And both the amplitude and latency, especially the former, of MEP began to significantly change 5 min after SCI. The latency levels of SEP and MEP increased and the amplitude decreased after compression time-dependently during a certain range of time (all P TMS-MEP are very sensitive to SCI, in particular, the change of amplitude is more sensitive then the latency change and can more accurately reflect the degree of SCI. Combination of SEP and TMS-MEP objectively reflects the SCI degree. EP measurement, as a noninvasive technique, has great value in monitoring spinal cord function.

Age Effect on Automatic Inhibitory Function of the Somatosensory and Motor Cortex: An MEG Study

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Cheng, Chia-Hsiung; Lin, Mei-Yin; Yang, Shiou-Han

2018-01-01

Age-related deficiency in the top-down modulation of cognitive inhibition has been extensively documented, whereas the effects of age on a bottom-up or automatic operation of inhibitory function were less investigated. It is unknown that whether the older adults (OA)’ reduced behavioral performance and neural responses are due to the insufficient bottom-up processes. Compared to behavioral assessments which have been widely used to examine the top-down control of response inhibition, electrophysiological recordings are more suitable to probe the early-stage processes of automatic inhibitory function. Sensory gating (SG), a phenomenon of attenuated neural response to the second identical stimulus in a paired-pulse paradigm, is an indicator to assess automatic inhibitory function of the sensory cortex. On the other hand, electricity-induced beta rebound oscillation in a single-pulse paradigm reflects cortical inhibition of the motor cortex. From the neurophysiological perspective, SG and beta rebound oscillation are replicable indicators to examine the automatic inhibitory function of human sensorimotor cortices. Thus, the present study aimed to use a whole-head magnetoencephalography (MEG) to investigate the age-related alterations of SG function in the primary somatosensory cortex (SI) and of beta rebound oscillation in the primary motor cortex (MI) in 17 healthy younger and 15 older adults. The Stimulus 2/Stimulus 1 (S2/S1) amplitude ratio in response to the paired-pulse electrical stimulation to the left median nerve was used to evaluate the automatic inhibitory function of SI, and the beta rebound response in the single-pulse paradigm was used to evaluate the automatic inhibitory function of MI. Although there were no significant age-related differences found in the SI SG ratios, the MI beta rebound power was reduced and peak latency was prolonged in the OA. Furthermore, significant association between the SI SG ratio and the MI beta rebound power, which was

Inhibition of NMDARs in the nucleus reticularis of the thalamus produces delta frequency bursting

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Yuchun Zhang

2009-11-01

Full Text Available Injection of NMDAR antagonist into the thalamus can produce delta frequency EEG oscillations in the thalamocortical system. It is surprising that an antagonist of an excitatory neurotransmitter should trigger such activity, and the mechanism is unknown. One hypothesis is that the antagonist blocks excitation of GABAergic cells, thus producing disinhibition. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the effect of NMDAR antagonist (APV on cells of the nucleus reticularis (nRT in rat brain slices, a thalamic nucleus that can serve as a pacemaker for thalamocortical delta oscillations and that is composed entirely of GABAergic neurons. We found, unexpectedly, that nRT cells are hyperpolarized by APV. This occurs because these cells have an unusual form of NMDAR (probably NR2C that contributes inward current at resting potential in response to ambient glutamate. The hyperpolarization produced by APV is sufficient to deinactivate T-type calcium channels, and these trigger rhythmic bursting at delta frequency. The APV-induced delta frequency bursting is abolished by dopamine D2 receptor antagonist, indicating that dopamine and NMDAR antagonist work synergistically to stimulate delta frequency bursting. Our results have significant implications concerning the electrophysiological basis of schizophrenia and bring together the NMDAR hypofunction, dopamine, and GABA theories of the disease. Our results suggest that NMDAR hypofunction and dopamine work synergistically on the GABAergic cells of the nRT to generate the delta frequency EEG oscillations, a thalamocortical dysrhythmia (TCD in the awake state that is an established abnormality in schizophrenia.

Experience-independent development of the hamster circadian visual system.

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August Kampf-Lassin

2011-04-01

Full Text Available Experience-dependent functional plasticity is a hallmark of the primary visual system, but it is not known if analogous mechanisms govern development of the circadian visual system. Here we investigated molecular, anatomical, and behavioral consequences of complete monocular light deprivation during extended intervals of postnatal development in Syrian hamsters. Hamsters were raised in constant darkness and opaque contact lenses were applied shortly after eye opening and prior to the introduction of a light-dark cycle. In adulthood, previously-occluded eyes were challenged with visual stimuli. Whereas image-formation and motion-detection were markedly impaired by monocular occlusion, neither entrainment to a light-dark cycle, nor phase-resetting responses to shifts in the light-dark cycle were affected by prior monocular deprivation. Cholera toxin-b subunit fluorescent tract-tracing revealed that in monocularly-deprived hamsters the density of fibers projecting from the retina to the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN was comparable regardless of whether such fibers originated from occluded or exposed eyes. In addition, long-term monocular deprivation did not attenuate light-induced c-Fos expression in the SCN. Thus, in contrast to the thalamocortical projections of the primary visual system, retinohypothalamic projections terminating in the SCN develop into normal adult patterns and mediate circadian responses to light largely independent of light experience during development. The data identify a categorical difference in the requirement for light input during postnatal development between circadian and non-circadian visual systems.

Non-invasive modulation of somatosensory evoked potentials by the application of static magnetic fields over the primary and supplementary motor cortices.

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Kirimoto, Hikari; Asao, Akihiko; Tamaki, Hiroyuki; Onishi, Hideaki

2016-10-04

This study was performed to investigate the possibility of non-invasive modulation of SEPs by the application of transcranial static magnetic field stimulation (tSMS) over the primary motor cortex (M1) and supplementary motor cortex (SMA), and to measure the strength of the NdFeB magnetic field by using a gaussmeter. An NdFeB magnet or a non-magnetic stainless steel cylinder (for sham stimulation) was settled on the scalp over M1 and SMA of 14 subjects for periods of 15 min. SEPs following right median nerve stimulation were recorded before and immediately after, 5 min after, and 10 min after tSMS from sites C3' and F3. Amplitudes of the N33 component of SEPs at C3' significantly decreased immediately after tSMS over M1 by up to 20%. However, tSMS over the SMA did not affect the amplitude of any of the SEP components. At a distance of 2-3 cm (rough depth of the cortex), magnetic field strength was in the range of 110-190 mT. Our results that tSMS over M1 can reduce the amplitude of SEPs are consistent with those of low-frequency repeated TMS and cathodal tDCS studies. Therefore, tSMS could be a useful tool for modulating cortical somatosensory processing.

Quantitative sensory testing somatosensory profiles in patients with cervical radiculopathy are distinct from those in patients with nonspecific neck-arm pain.

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Tampin, Brigitte; Slater, Helen; Hall, Toby; Lee, Gabriel; Briffa, Noelle Kathryn

2012-12-01

The aim of this study was to establish the somatosensory profiles of patients with cervical radiculopathy and patients with nonspecific neck-arm pain associated with heightened nerve mechanosensitivity (NSNAP). Sensory profiles were compared to healthy control (HC) subjects and a positive control group comprising patients with fibromyalgia (FM). Quantitative sensory testing (QST) of thermal and mechanical detection and pain thresholds, pain sensitivity and responsiveness to repetitive noxious mechanical stimulation was performed in the maximal pain area, the corresponding dermatome and foot of 23 patients with painful C6 or C7 cervical radiculopathy, 8 patients with NSNAP in a C6/7 dermatomal pain distribution, 31 HC and 22 patients with FM. For both neck-arm pain groups, all QST parameters were within the 95% confidence interval of HC data. Patients with cervical radiculopathy were characterised by localised loss of function (thermal, mechanical, vibration detection Ppain area and dermatome (thermal detection, vibration detection, pressure pain sensitivity Ppain groups demonstrated increased cold sensitivity in their maximal pain area (Ppain groups differed from patients with FM, the latter characterised by a widespread gain of function in most nociceptive parameters (thermal, pressure, mechanical pain sensitivity Ppain characteristics between the 2 neck-arm pain groups, distinct sensory profiles were demonstrated for each group. Copyright © 2012 International Association for the Study of Pain. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Golgi Analysis of Neuron Morphology in the Presumptive Somatosensory Cortex and Visual Cortex of the Florida Manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris).

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Reyes, Laura D; Harland, Tessa; Reep, Roger L; Sherwood, Chet C; Jacobs, Bob

2016-01-01

The current study investigates neuron morphology in presumptive primary somatosensory (S1) and primary visual (V1) cortices of the Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris) as revealed by Golgi impregnation. Sirenians, including manatees, have an aquatic lifestyle, a large body size, and a relatively large lissencephalic brain. The present study examines neuron morphology in 3 cortical areas: in S1, dorsolateral cortex area 1 (DL1) and cluster cortex area 2 (CL2) and in V1, dorsolateral cortex area 4 (DL4). Neurons exhibited a variety of morphological types, with pyramidal neurons being the most common. The large variety of neuron types present in the manatee cortex was comparable to that seen in other eutherian mammals, except for rodents and primates, where pyramid-shaped neurons predominate. A comparison between pyramidal neurons in S1 and V1 indicated relatively greater dendritic branching in S1. Across all 3 areas, the dendritic arborization pattern of pyramidal neurons was also similar to that observed previously in the afrotherian rock hyrax, cetartiodactyls, opossums, and echidnas but did not resemble the widely bifurcated dendrites seen in the large-brained African elephant. Despite adaptations for an aquatic environment, manatees did not share specific neuron types such as tritufted and star-like neurons that have been found in cetaceans. Manatees exhibit an evolutionarily primitive pattern of cortical neuron morphology shared with most other mammals and do not appear to have neuronal specializations for an aquatic niche. © 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Multisensory representation of frequency across audition and touch: high density electrical mapping reveals early sensory-perceptual coupling.

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Butler, John S; Foxe, John J; Fiebelkorn, Ian C; Mercier, Manuel R; Molholm, Sophie

2012-10-31

The frequency of environmental vibrations is sampled by two of the major sensory systems, audition and touch, notwithstanding that these signals are transduced through very different physical media and entirely separate sensory epithelia. Psychophysical studies have shown that manipulating frequency in audition or touch can have a significant cross-sensory impact on perceived frequency in the other sensory system, pointing to intimate links between these senses during computation of frequency. In this regard, the frequency of a vibratory event can be thought of as a multisensory perceptual construct. In turn, electrophysiological studies point to temporally early multisensory interactions that occur in hierarchically early sensory regions where convergent inputs from the auditory and somatosensory systems are to be found. A key question pertains to the level of processing at which the multisensory integration of featural information, such as frequency, occurs. Do the sensory systems calculate frequency independently before this information is combined, or is this feature calculated in an integrated fashion during preattentive sensory processing? The well characterized mismatch negativity, an electrophysiological response that indexes preattentive detection of a change within the context of a regular pattern of stimulation, served as our dependent measure. High-density electrophysiological recordings were made in humans while they were presented with separate blocks of somatosensory, auditory, and audio-somatosensory "standards" and "deviants," where the deviant differed in frequency. Multisensory effects were identified beginning at ∼200 ms, with the multisensory mismatch negativity (MMN) significantly different from the sum of the unisensory MMNs. This provides compelling evidence for preattentive coupling between the somatosensory and auditory channels in the cortical representation of frequency.

Emergent Auditory Feature Tuning in a Real-Time Neuromorphic VLSI System.

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Sheik, Sadique; Coath, Martin; Indiveri, Giacomo; Denham, Susan L; Wennekers, Thomas; Chicca, Elisabetta

2012-01-01

Many sounds of ecological importance, such as communication calls, are characterized by time-varying spectra. However, most neuromorphic auditory models to date have focused on distinguishing mainly static patterns, under the assumption that dynamic patterns can be learned as sequences of static ones. In contrast, the emergence of dynamic feature sensitivity through exposure to formative stimuli has been recently modeled in a network of spiking neurons based on the thalamo-cortical architecture. The proposed network models the effect of lateral and recurrent connections between cortical layers, distance-dependent axonal transmission delays, and learning in the form of Spike Timing Dependent Plasticity (STDP), which effects stimulus-driven changes in the pattern of network connectivity. In this paper we demonstrate how these principles can be efficiently implemented in neuromorphic hardware. In doing so we address two principle problems in the design of neuromorphic systems: real-time event-based asynchronous communication in multi-chip systems, and the realization in hybrid analog/digital VLSI technology of neural computational principles that we propose underlie plasticity in neural processing of dynamic stimuli. The result is a hardware neural network that learns in real-time and shows preferential responses, after exposure, to stimuli exhibiting particular spectro-temporal patterns. The availability of hardware on which the model can be implemented, makes this a significant step toward the development of adaptive, neurobiologically plausible, spike-based, artificial sensory systems.

Emergent auditory feature tuning in a real-time neuromorphic VLSI system

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Sadique eSheik

2012-02-01

Full Text Available Many sounds of ecological importance, such as communication calls, are characterised by time-varying spectra. However, most neuromorphic auditory models to date have focused on distinguishing mainly static patterns, under the assumption that dynamic patterns can be learned as sequences of static ones. In contrast, the emergence of dynamic feature sensitivity through exposure to formative stimuli has been recently modeled in a network of spiking neurons based on the thalamocortical architecture. The proposed network models the effect of lateral and recurrent connections between cortical layers, distance-dependent axonal transmission delays, and learning in the form of Spike Timing Dependent Plasticity (STDP, which effects stimulus-driven changes in the pattern of network connectivity. In this paper we demonstrate how these principles can be efficiently implemented in neuromorphic hardware. In doing so we address two principle problems in the design of neuromorphic systems: real-time event-based asynchronous communication in multi-chip systems, and the realization in hybrid analog/digital VLSI technology of neural computational principles that we propose underlie plasticity in neural processing of dynamic stimuli. The result is a hardware neural network that learns in real-time and shows preferential responses, after exposure, to stimuli exhibiting particular spectrotemporal patterns. The availability of hardware on which the model can be implemented, makes this a significant step towards the development of adaptive, neurobiologically plausible, spike-based, artificial sensory systems.

Organisation de l'activité neuronale cérébelleuse lors de d'une tâche de préhension et reste dans des rats déplaçant librement

OpenAIRE

Gao , Hongying

2012-01-01

The cerebellum is a brain structure involved in coordination complex motor actions such as voluntary movements. To achieve this function, the precise temporal control of a large population of neurons is required. While a large number of patterned population activity has been characterized in many major brain structures (thalamo-cortical system, basal ganglia, hippocampal formation, etc...), very little is currently known in the cerebellum. Therefore, I investigated the presence and characteri...

Revised definition of neuropathic pain and its grading system: an open case series illustrating its use in clinical practice.

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Geber, Christian; Baumgärtner, Ulf; Schwab, Rainer; Müller, Harald; Stoeter, Peter; Dieterich, Marianne; Sommer, Clemens; Birklein, Frank; Treede, Rolf-Detlef

2009-10-01

The definition of neuropathic pain has recently been revised by an expert committee of the Neuropathic Pain Special Interest Group of the International Association for the Study of Pain (NeuPSIG) as "pain arising as direct consequence of a lesion or disease affecting the somatosensory system," and a grading system of "definite," "probable," and "possible" neuropathic pain has been introduced. This open case series of 5 outpatients (3 men, 2 women; mean age 48 +/- 12 years) demonstrates how the grading system can be applied, in combination with appropriate confirmatory testing, to diagnosis neuropathic conditions in clinical practice. The proposed grading system includes a dynamic algorithm that enhances the physician's ability to determine with a greater level of certainty whether a pain condition is neuropathic. Its clinical use should be further validated in prospective studies.

Neuron Types in the Presumptive Primary Somatosensory Cortex of the Florida Manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris).

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Reyes, Laura D; Stimpson, Cheryl D; Gupta, Kanika; Raghanti, Mary Ann; Hof, Patrick R; Reep, Roger L; Sherwood, Chet C

2015-01-01

Within afrotherians, sirenians are unusual due to their aquatic lifestyle, large body size and relatively large lissencephalic brain. However, little is known about the neuron type distributions of the cerebral cortex in sirenians within the context of other afrotherians and aquatic mammals. The present study investigated two cortical regions, dorsolateral cortex area 1 (DL1) and cluster cortex area 2 (CL2), in the presumptive primary somatosensory cortex (S1) in Florida manatees (Trichechus manatus latirostris) to characterize cyto- and chemoarchitecture. The mean neuron density for both cortical regions was 35,617 neurons/mm(3) and fell within the 95% prediction intervals relative to brain mass based on a reference group of afrotherians and xenarthrans. Densities of inhibitory interneuron subtypes labeled against calcium-binding proteins and neuropeptide Y were relatively low compared to afrotherians and xenarthrans and also formed a small percentage of the overall population of inhibitory interneurons as revealed by GAD67 immunoreactivity. Nonphosphorylated neurofilament protein-immunoreactive (NPNFP-ir) neurons comprised a mean of 60% of neurons in layer V across DL1 and CL2. DL1 contained a higher percentage of NPNFP-ir neurons than CL2, although CL2 had a higher variety of morphological types. The mean percentage of NPNFP-ir neurons in the two regions of the presumptive S1 were low compared to other afrotherians and xenarthrans but were within the 95% prediction intervals relative to brain mass, and their morphologies were comparable to those found in other afrotherians and xenarthrans. Although this specific pattern of neuron types and densities sets the manatee apart from other afrotherians and xenarthrans, the manatee isocortex does not appear to be explicitly adapted for an aquatic habitat. Many of the features that are shared between manatees and cetaceans are also shared with a diverse array of terrestrial mammals and likely represent highly conserved

Functional and Structural Neuroplasticity Induced by Short-Term Tactile Training Based on Braille Reading.

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Debowska, Weronika; Wolak, Tomasz; Nowicka, Anna; Kozak, Anna; Szwed, Marcin; Kossut, Malgorzata

2016-01-01

Neuroplastic changes induced by sensory learning have been recognized within the cortices of specific modalities as well as within higher ordered multimodal areas. The interplay between these areas is not fully understood, particularly in the case of somatosensory learning. Here we examined functional and structural changes induced by short-term tactile training based of Braille reading, a task that requires both significant tactile expertise and mapping of tactile input onto multimodal representations. Subjects with normal vision were trained for 3 weeks to read Braille exclusively by touch and scanned before and after training, while performing a same-different discrimination task on Braille characters and meaningless characters. Functional and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging sequences were used to assess resulting changes. The strongest training-induced effect was found in the primary somatosensory cortex (SI), where we observed bilateral augmentation in activity accompanied by an increase in fractional anisotropy (FA) within the contralateral SI. Increases of white matter fractional anisotropy were also observed in the secondary somatosensory area (SII) and the thalamus. Outside of somatosensory system, changes in both structure and function were found in i.e., the fusiform gyrus, the medial frontal gyri and the inferior parietal lobule. Our results provide evidence for functional remodeling of the somatosensory pathway and higher ordered multimodal brain areas occurring as a result of short-lasting tactile learning, and add to them a novel picture of extensive white matter plasticity.

Regional variation of white matter development in the cat brain revealed by ex vivo diffusion MR tractography.

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Dai, Guangping; Das, Avilash; Hayashi, Emiko; Chen, Qin; Takahashi, Emi

2016-11-01

Three-dimensional reconstruction of developing fiber pathways is essential to assessing the developmental course of fiber pathways in the whole brain. We applied diffusion spectrum imaging (DSI) tractography to five juvenile ex vivo cat brains at postnatal day (P) 35, when the degree of myelination varies across brain regions. We quantified diffusion properties (fractional anisotropy [FA] and apparent diffusion coefficient [ADC]) and other measurements (number, volume, and voxel count) on reconstructed pathways for projection (cortico-spinal and thalamo-cortical), corpus callosal, limbic (cingulum and fornix), and association (cortico-cortical) pathways, and characterized regional differences in maturation patterns by assessing diffusion properties. FA values were significantly higher in cortico-cortical pathways within the right hemisphere compared to those within the left hemisphere, while the other measurements for the cortico-cortical pathways within the hemisphere did not show asymmetry. ADC values were not asymmetric in both types of pathways. Interestingly, tract count and volume were significantly larger in the left thalamo-cortical pathways compared to the right thalamo-cortical pathways. The bilateral thalamo-cortical pathways showed high FA values compared to the other fiber pathways. On the other hand, ADC values did not show any differences across pathways studied. These results demonstrate that DSI tractography successfully depicted regional variations of white matter tracts during development when myelination is incomplete. Low FA and high ADC values in the cingulum bundle suggest that the cingulum bundle is less mature than the others at this developmental stage. Copyright © 2016 ISDN. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Brain connectivity in pathological and pharmacological coma

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Quentin Noirhomme

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Recent studies in patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC tend to support the view that awareness is not related to activity in a single brain region but to thalamo-cortical connectivity in the frontoparietal network. Functional neuroimaging studies have shown preserved albeit disconnected low level cortical activation in response to external stimulation in patients in a vegetative state or unresponsive wakefulness syndrome. While activation of these primary sensory cortices does not necessarily reflect conscious awareness, activation in higher order associative cortices in minimally conscious state patients seems to herald some residual perceptual awareness. PET studies have identified a metabolic dysfunction in a widespread fronto-parietal global neuronal workspace in DOC patients including the midline default mode network, ‘intrinsic’ system, and the lateral frontoparietal cortices or ‘extrinsic system’. Recent studies have investigated the relation of awareness to the functional connectivity within intrinsic and extrinsic networks, and with the thalami in both pathological and pharmacological coma. In brain damaged patients, connectivity in all default network areas was found to be non-linearly correlated with the degree of clinical consciousness impairment, ranging from healthy controls and locked-in syndrome to minimally conscious, vegetative, coma and brain dead patients. Anesthesia-induced loss of consciousness was also shown to correlate with a global decrease in cortico-cortical and thalamo-cortical connectivity in both intrinsic and extrinsic networks, but not in auditory or visual networks. In anesthesia, unconsciousness was also associated with a loss of cross-modal interactions between networks. These results suggest that conscious awareness critically depends on the functional integrity of thalamo-cortical and cortico-cortical frontoparietal connectivity within and between intrinsic and extrinsic brain networks.

Motor System Interactions in the Beta Band Decrease during Loss of Consciousness.

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Swann, Nicole C; de Hemptinne, Coralie; Maher, Ryan B; Stapleton, Catherine A; Meng, Lingzhong; Gelb, Adrian W; Starr, Philip A

2016-01-01

Communication between brain areas and how they are influenced by changes in consciousness are not fully understood. One hypothesis is that brain areas communicate via oscillatory processes, utilizing network-specific frequency bands, that can be measured with metrics that reflect between-region interactions, such as coherence and phase amplitude coupling (PAC). To evaluate this hypothesis and understand how these interactions are modulated by state changes, we analyzed electrophysiological recordings in humans at different nodes of one well-studied brain network: the basal ganglia-thalamocortical loops of the motor system during loss of consciousness induced by anesthesia. We recorded simultaneous electrocorticography over primary motor cortex (M1) with local field potentials from subcortical motor regions (either basal ganglia or thalamus) in 15 movement disorder patients during anesthesia (propofol) induction as a part of their surgery for deep brain stimulation. We observed reduced coherence and PAC between M1 and the subcortical nuclei, which was specific to the beta band (∼18-24 Hz). The fact that this pattern occurs selectively in beta underscores the importance of this frequency band in the motor system and supports the idea that oscillatory interactions at specific frequencies are related to the capacity for normal brain function and behavior.

Compensating Level-Dependent Frequency Representation in Auditory Cortex by Synaptic Integration of Corticocortical Input.

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Max F K Happel

Full Text Available Robust perception of auditory objects over a large range of sound intensities is a fundamental feature of the auditory system. However, firing characteristics of single neurons across the entire auditory system, like the frequency tuning, can change significantly with stimulus intensity. Physiological correlates of level-constancy of auditory representations hence should be manifested on the level of larger neuronal assemblies or population patterns. In this study we have investigated how information of frequency and sound level is integrated on the circuit-level in the primary auditory cortex (AI of the Mongolian gerbil. We used a combination of pharmacological silencing of corticocortically relayed activity and laminar current source density (CSD analysis. Our data demonstrate that with increasing stimulus intensities progressively lower frequencies lead to the maximal impulse response within cortical input layers at a given cortical site inherited from thalamocortical synaptic inputs. We further identified a temporally precise intercolumnar synaptic convergence of early thalamocortical and horizontal corticocortical inputs. Later tone-evoked activity in upper layers showed a preservation of broad tonotopic tuning across sound levels without shifts towards lower frequencies. Synaptic integration within corticocortical circuits may hence contribute to a level-robust representation of auditory information on a neuronal population level in the auditory cortex.

Within-digit functional parcellation of Brodmann areas of the human primary somatosensory cortex using functional magnetic resonance imaging at 7 tesla.

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Sanchez-Panchuelo, Rosa M; Besle, Julien; Beckett, Alex; Bowtell, Richard; Schluppeck, Denis; Francis, Susan

2012-11-07

The primary somatosensory cortex (S1) can be subdivided cytoarchitectonically into four distinct Brodmann areas (3a, 3b, 1, and 2), but these areas have never been successfully delineated in vivo in single human subjects. Here, we demonstrate the functional parcellation of four areas of S1 in individual human subjects based on high-resolution functional MRI measurements made at 7 T using vibrotactile stimulation. By stimulating four sites along the length of the index finger, we were able to identify and locate map reversals of the base to tip representation of the index finger in S1. We suggest that these reversals correspond to the areal borders between the mirrored representations in the four Brodmann areas, as predicted from electrophysiology measurements in nonhuman primates. In all subjects, maps were highly reproducible across scanning sessions and stable over weeks. In four of the six subjects scanned, four, mirrored, within-finger somatotopic maps defining the extent of the Brodmann areas could be directly observed on the cortical surface. In addition, by using multivariate classification analysis, the location of stimulation on the index finger (four distinct sites) could be decoded with a mean accuracy of 65% across subjects. Our measurements thus show that within-finger topography is present at the millimeter scale in the cortex and is highly reproducible. The ability to identify functional areas of S1 in vivo in individual subjects will provide a framework for investigating more complex aspects of tactile representation in S1.

Dipolar sources of the early scalp somatosensory evoked potentials to upper limb stimulation. Effect of increasing stimulus rates.

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Valeriani, M; Restuccia, D; Di Lazzaro, V; Le Pera, D; Barba, C; Tonali, P; Mauguiere, F

1998-06-01

Brain electrical source analysis (BESA) of the scalp electroencephalographic activity is well adapted to distinguish neighbouring cerebral generators precisely. Therefore, we performed dipolar source modelling in scalp medium nerve somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) recorded at 1.5-Hz stimulation rate, where all the early components should be identifiable. We built a four-dipole model, which was issued from the grand average, and applied it also to recordings from single individuals. Our model included a dipole at the base of the skull and three other perirolandic dipoles. The first of the latter dipoles was tangentially oriented and was active at the same latencies as the N20/P20 potential and, with opposite polarity, the P24/N24 response. The second perirolandic dipole showed an initial peak of activity slightly earlier than that of the N20/P20 dipolar source and, later, it was active at the same latency as the central P22 potential. Lastly, the third perirolandic dipole explaining the fronto-central N30 potential scalp distribution was constantly more posterior than the first one. In order to evaluate the effect of an increasing repetition frequency on the activity of SEP dipolar sources, we applied the model built from 1.5-Hz SEPs to traces recorded at 3-Hz and 10-Hz repetition rates. We found that the 10-Hz stimulus frequency reduced selectively the later of the two activity phases of the first perirolandic dipole. The decrement in strength of this dipolar source can be explained if we assume that: (a) the later activity of the first perirolandic dipole can represent the inhibitory phase of a "primary response"; (b) two different clusters of cells generate the opposite activities of the tangential perirolandic dipole. An additional finding in our model was that two different perirolandic dipoles contribute to the centro-parietal N20 potential generation.

[The role of the neurophysiological methods in the assessment of the effectiveness of the rehabilitation of sensorimotor disturbances associated with the lesions of the central nervous system at the spinal cord level].

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Ekusheva, E V; Voitenkov, V B; Skripchenko, N V; Samoilova, I G; Filimonov, V A

2017-12-28

The objective of the present study was the evaluation and comparison of the effectiveness of the differential approaches to the neurorehabilitation of the somatosensory disturbances in the patients presenting with the spinal cord lesions. A total of 68 patients with spinal cord lesions were enrolled in the study, including 38 suffering from vascular myelopathy, 18 with the consequences of extramedullar meningioma surgery, 12 with the sequelae of acute transverse myelitis. The control groups was comprised of were 55 subjects. All the participants of the study underwent rehabilitation which included robotized mechanotherapy, stabilography, neuro-muscular stimulation, kinesiotherapy, physical therapy, ergotherapy, massage, etc. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and evaluation of somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP) were carried out before and after the therapy. In those patients who received personalized therapy, significant changes of TMS parameters (central motor conduction time at rest and in facilitation probe), but not SSEP ones were registered. Moreover, the patients who had undergone personalized therapy exhibited better clinical results than in the absence of such treatment. The results of the study gave evidence that neurorehabilitation had produced the more pronounced beneficial influence as regards the correction of motor disturbances even though the disturbances of the somatosensory functions proved to be more resistant to therapy. The data obtained suggest that taking into consideration the afferent deficit has to be mandatory for the purpose of planning the neurorehabilitative treatment of the patients suffering from sensorimotor disturbances associated with the lesions of the central nervous system at the spinal cord level. TMS and SSEP have to be utilized as the tools for the objective evaluation of the effectiveness of the neurorehabilitation process in such patients.

Anatomical and functional properties of the foot and leg representation in areas 3b, 1 and 2 of primary somatosensory cortex in humans: A 7T fMRI study.

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Akselrod, Michel; Martuzzi, Roberto; Serino, Andrea; van der Zwaag, Wietske; Gassert, Roger; Blanke, Olaf

2017-10-01

Primary somatosensory cortex (S1) processes somatosensory information and is composed of multiple subregions. In particular, tactile information from the skin is encoded in three subregions, namely Brodmann areas (BAs) 3b, 1 and 2, with each area representing a complete map of the contralateral body. Although, much is known about the somatotopic organization of the hand in human S1, less research has been carried out regarding the somatotopic maps of the foot and leg in S1. Moreover, a latero-medial S1 organization along the superior part of the postcentral gyrus has been reported when moving from hip to toes, yet to date there is no study investigating leg/foot maps within the different subregions of S1. Using ultra-high field MRI (7T), we mapped six cortical representations of the lower limb (hip to toes) at the single subject level and performed this analysis separately for BAs 3b, 1 and 2. Analyzing the BOLD responses associated with tactile stimulations of the mapped foot and leg regions on each side, we quantified the extent and the strength of activation to determine somatotopic organization. In addition, we investigated whether each mapped representation also responded to the stimulation of other body parts (i.e. response selectivity) and conducted dissimilarity analysis relating these anatomical and functional properties of S1 to the physical structure of the lower limbs. Our data reveal somatotopy for the leg, but not for the foot in all investigated BAs, with large inter-subject variability. We found only minor differences between the properties of the three investigated BAs, suggesting that S1 maps for the lower limbs differ from those described for the hand. We also describe greater extent/strength of S1 activation for the big toe representation (compared to the other mapped representations) within all BAs, suggesting a possible homology between the first digit of upper and lower extremity in humans, and report different patterns of selectivity in the

Nocebo context modulates long-term habituation to heat pain and influences functional connectivity of the operculum.

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Ellerbrock, Isabel; Wiehler, Antonius; Arndt, Manuela; May, Arne

2015-11-01

In the past, nocebo manipulations have been found to modulate pain perception and influence long-term habituation to pain. Recently, neural correlates accompanying this finding have been identified: habituation over days is mirrored by decreased activity in pain-processing brain areas, whereas nocebo-specific modulation specifically involves the opercular cortex. Focusing on duration and central network characteristics of nocebo information in a longitudinal heat pain paradigm, we investigated 40 healthy participants over a period of 21 consecutive days, whereof sessions on days 1, 8, 14, and 21 were performed during functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning. Negative context information was given to half of the participants, inducing a nocebo manipulation through verbal suggestions. The analysis was focused on brain areas associated with habituation and nocebo effects and identified coupled brain regions using functional connectivity analysis. Decreased pain perception over days was reflected in reduced blood oxygenation level dependent signal in pain-processing areas, such as the insula and somatosensory cortices, whereas increased rostral anterior cingulate cortex activation reflected the central correlate for habituation over time. Habituation was significantly less pronounced in the nocebo group. Consistent with previous results, the nocebo manipulation not only modulated pain perception but also was accompanied by the activation of the operculum over an extended period of time. Importantly, the operculum exhibited changes in coupling during nociceptive input over time, as demonstrated by decreased connectivity with the basal ganglia and pinpoints differences, depending on whether a nocebo context was given. These data suggest that negative verbal suggestions prognosticating increasing pain may prevail by modulating basal ganglia-thalamocortical loops.

Ketamine increases the frequency of electroencephalographic bicoherence peak on the alpha spindle area induced with propofol.

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Hayashi, K; Tsuda, N; Sawa, T; Hagihira, S

2007-09-01

The reticular and thalamocortical system is known to play a prominent role in spindle wave activity, and the spindle wave is related to the sedative effects of anaesthetics. Recently, bispectral analysis of the EEG has been developed as a better method to indicate nonlinear regulation including the thalamocortical system linking to the cortical area. In the present study, in order to explore the interference of ketamine with the nonlinear regulation of the sub-cortical system, we examined the effect of ketamine on spindle alpha waves through the bispectral analysis. The study included 21 patients. Anaesthesia was induced and maintained using a propofol-TCI system (target-controlled infusion, with target concentration 3.5 microg ml(-1)). An A-2000 BIS monitor was used and the raw EEG signals were collected via an RS232 interface on a personal computer. Bicoherence, the normalized bispectrum, and power spectrum were analysed before and after i.v. administration of 1 mg kg(-1) racemic ketamine. Propofol caused alpha peaks in both power and bicoherence spectra, with average frequencies of 10.6 (SD 0.9) Hz and 10.7 (1.0) Hz, respectively. The addition of ketamine significantly shifted each peak to frequencies of 14.4 (1.4) Hz and 13.6 (1.5) Hz, respectively [P < 0.05, mean (SD)]. Ketamine shifted the alpha peaks of bicoherence induced by propofol to higher frequencies. This suggests that ketamine changes the alpha spindle rhythms through the modulation of the nonlinear sub-cortical reverberating network.

Defective imitation of finger configurations in patients with damage in the right or left hemispheres: An integration disorder of visual and somatosensory information?

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Okita, Manabu; Yukihiro, Takashi; Miyamoto, Kenzo; Morioka, Shu; Kaba, Hideto

2017-04-01

To explore the mechanism underlying the imitation of finger gestures, we devised a simple imitation task in which the patients were instructed to replicate finger configurations in two conditions: one in which they could see their hand (visual feedback: VF) and one in which they could not see their hand (non-visual feedback: NVF). Patients with left brain damage (LBD) or right brain damage (RBD), respectively, were categorized into two groups based on their scores on the imitation task in the NVF condition: the impaired imitation groups (I-LBD and I-RBD) who failed two or more of the five patterns and the control groups (C-LBD and C-RBD) who made one or no errors. We also measured the movement-production times for imitation. The I-RBD group performed significantly worse than the C-RBD group even in the VF condition. In contrast, the I-LBD group was selectively impaired in the NVF condition. The I-LBD group performed the imitations at a significantly slower rate than the C-LBD group in both the VF and NVF conditions. These results suggest that impaired imitation in patients with LBD is partly due to an abnormal integration of visual and somatosensory information based on the task specificity of the NVF condition. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Fine-scale topography in sensory systems: insights from Drosophila and vertebrates.

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Kaneko, Takuya; Ye, Bing

2015-09-01

To encode the positions of sensory stimuli, sensory circuits form topographic maps in the central nervous system through specific point-to-point connections between pre- and postsynaptic neurons. In vertebrate visual systems, the establishment of topographic maps involves the formation of a coarse topography followed by that of fine-scale topography that distinguishes the axon terminals of neighboring neurons. It is known that intrinsic differences in the form of broad gradients of guidance molecules instruct coarse topography while neuronal activity is required for fine-scale topography. On the other hand, studies in the Drosophila visual system have shown that intrinsic differences in cell adhesion among the axon terminals of neighboring neurons instruct the fine-scale topography. Recent studies on activity-dependent topography in the Drosophila somatosensory system have revealed a role of neuronal activity in creating molecular differences among sensory neurons for establishing fine-scale topography, implicating a conserved principle. Here we review the findings in both Drosophila and vertebrates and propose an integrated model for fine-scale topography.

Impairments of thalamic resting-state functional connectivity in patients with chronic tinnitus

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Zhang, Jian [Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Molecular and Functional Imaging, Department of Radiology, Zhongda Hospital, Medical School, Southeast University, Nanjing (China); Chen, Yu-Chen [Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Molecular and Functional Imaging, Department of Radiology, Zhongda Hospital, Medical School, Southeast University, Nanjing (China); Center for Hearing and Deafness, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY (United States); Feng, Xu [Department of Otolaryngology, Zhongda Hospital, Medical School, Southeast University, Nanjing (China); Yang, Ming; Liu, Bin; Qian, Cheng [Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Molecular and Functional Imaging, Department of Radiology, Zhongda Hospital, Medical School, Southeast University, Nanjing (China); Wang, Jian [Department of Physiology, Southeast University, Nanjing (China); School of Human Communication Disorders, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS (Canada); Salvi, Richard [Center for Hearing and Deafness, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY (United States); Teng, Gao-Jun, E-mail: gjteng@vip.sina.com [Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Molecular and Functional Imaging, Department of Radiology, Zhongda Hospital, Medical School, Southeast University, Nanjing (China)

2015-07-15

Highlights: • Tinnitus patients have aberrant thalamic connectivity to many brain regions. • Decreased thalamic connectivity is linked with tinnitus characteristics. • Thalamocortical connectivity disturbances can reflect tinnitus-related networks. - Abstract: Purpose: The phantom sound of tinnitus is believed to arise from abnormal functional coupling between the thalamus and cerebral cortex. To explore this hypothesis, we used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to compare the degree of thalamocortical functional connectivity in chronic tinnitus patients and controls. Materials and methods: Resting-state fMRI scans were obtained from 31 chronic tinnitus patients and 33 well-matched healthy controls. Thalamocortical functional connectivity was characterized using a seed-based whole-brain correlation method. The resulting thalamic functional connectivity measures were correlated with other clinical data. Results: We found decreased functional connectivity between the seed region in left thalamus and right middle temporal gyrus (MTG), right middle orbitofrontal cortex, left middle frontal gyrus, right precentral gyrus, and bilateral calcarine cortex. Decreased functional connectivity was detected between the seed in the right thalamus and the left superior temporal gyrus (STG), left amygdala, right superior frontal gyrus, left precentral gyrus, and left middle occipital gyrus. Tinnitus distress correlated negatively with thalamic functional connectivity in right MTG; tinnitus duration correlated negatively with thalamic functional connectivity in left STG. Increased functional connectivity between the bilateral thalamus and a set of regions were also observed. Conclusions: Chronic tinnitus patients have disrupted thalamocortical functional connectivity to selected brain regions which is associated with specific tinnitus characteristics. Resting-state thalamic functional connectivity disturbances may play an important role in

Impairments of thalamic resting-state functional connectivity in patients with chronic tinnitus

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Jian; Chen, Yu-Chen; Feng, Xu; Yang, Ming; Liu, Bin; Qian, Cheng; Wang, Jian; Salvi, Richard; Teng, Gao-Jun

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Tinnitus patients have aberrant thalamic connectivity to many brain regions. • Decreased thalamic connectivity is linked with tinnitus characteristics. • Thalamocortical connectivity disturbances can reflect tinnitus-related networks. - Abstract: Purpose: The phantom sound of tinnitus is believed to arise from abnormal functional coupling between the thalamus and cerebral cortex. To explore this hypothesis, we used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to compare the degree of thalamocortical functional connectivity in chronic tinnitus patients and controls. Materials and methods: Resting-state fMRI scans were obtained from 31 chronic tinnitus patients and 33 well-matched healthy controls. Thalamocortical functional connectivity was characterized using a seed-based whole-brain correlation method. The resulting thalamic functional connectivity measures were correlated with other clinical data. Results: We found decreased functional connectivity between the seed region in left thalamus and right middle temporal gyrus (MTG), right middle orbitofrontal cortex, left middle frontal gyrus, right precentral gyrus, and bilateral calcarine cortex. Decreased functional connectivity was detected between the seed in the right thalamus and the left superior temporal gyrus (STG), left amygdala, right superior frontal gyrus, left precentral gyrus, and left middle occipital gyrus. Tinnitus distress correlated negatively with thalamic functional connectivity in right MTG; tinnitus duration correlated negatively with thalamic functional connectivity in left STG. Increased functional connectivity between the bilateral thalamus and a set of regions were also observed. Conclusions: Chronic tinnitus patients have disrupted thalamocortical functional connectivity to selected brain regions which is associated with specific tinnitus characteristics. Resting-state thalamic functional connectivity disturbances may play an important role in

Attending to and remembering tactile stimuli: a review of brain imaging data and single-neuron responses.

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Burton, H; Sinclair, R J

2000-11-01

Clinical and neuroimaging observations of the cortical network implicated in tactile attention have identified foci in parietal somatosensory, posterior parietal, and superior frontal locations. Tasks involving intentional hand-arm movements activate similar or nearby parietal and frontal foci. Visual spatial attention tasks and deliberate visuomotor behavior also activate overlapping posterior parietal and frontal foci. Studies in the visual and somatosensory systems thus support a proposal that attention to the spatial location of an object engages cortical regions responsible for the same coordinate referents used for guiding purposeful motor behavior. Tactile attention also biases processing in the somatosensory cortex through amplification of responses to relevant features of selected stimuli. Psychophysical studies demonstrate retention gradients for tactile stimuli like those reported for visual and auditory stimuli, and suggest analogous neural mechanisms for working memory across modalities. Neuroimaging studies in humans using memory tasks, and anatomic studies in monkeys support the idea that tactile information relayed from the somatosensory cortex is directed ventrally through the insula to the frontal cortex for short-term retention and to structures of the medial temporal lobe for long-term encoding. At the level of single neurons, tactile (such as visual and auditory) short-term memory appears as a persistent response during delay intervals between sampled stimuli.

The Regulation of Immunological Processes by Peripheral Neurons in Homeostasis and Disease.

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Ordovas-Montanes, Jose; Rakoff-Nahoum, Seth; Huang, Siyi; Riol-Blanco, Lorena; Barreiro, Olga; von Andrian, Ulrich H

2015-10-01

The nervous system and the immune system are the principal sensory interfaces between the internal and external environment. They are responsible for recognizing, integrating, and responding to varied stimuli, and have the capacity to form memories of these encounters leading to learned or 'adaptive' future responses. We review current understanding of the cross-regulation between these systems. The autonomic and somatosensory nervous systems regulate both the development and deployment of immune cells, with broad functions that impact on hematopoiesis as well as on priming, migration, and cytokine production. In turn, specific immune cell subsets contribute to homeostatic neural circuits such as those controlling metabolism, hypertension, and the inflammatory reflex. We examine the contribution of the somatosensory system to autoimmune, autoinflammatory, allergic, and infectious processes in barrier tissues and, in this context, discuss opportunities for therapeutic manipulation of neuro-immune interactions. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sleep spindle activity in double cortex syndrome: a case report.

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Sforza, Emilia; Marcoz, Jean-Pierre; Foletti, Giovanni

2010-09-01

Cortical dysgenesis is increasingly recognised as a cause of epilepsy. We report a case with double cortex heterotopia and secondarily generalized seizures with a generalised spike wave pattern. During the course of the disease, the child developed electrical status epilepticus in slow wave sleep. From the first examination, sleep pattern revealed increased frequency and amplitude of spindle activity, more evident in anterior areas. The role of the thalamocortical pathway in increased sleep spindle activity is discussed with emphasis on the possible role of altered thalamocortical pathways in abnormal cortical migration. A strong suspicion of cortical dysgenesis may therefore be based on specific EEG sleep patterns.

Basal Ganglia Circuits as Targets for Neuromodulation in Parkinson Disease.

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DeLong, Mahlon R; Wichmann, Thomas

2015-11-01

The revival of stereotactic surgery for Parkinson disease (PD) in the 1990s, with pallidotomy and then with high-frequency deep brain stimulation (DBS), has led to a renaissance in functional surgery for movement and other neuropsychiatric disorders. To examine the scientific foundations and rationale for the use of ablation and DBS for treatment of neurologic and psychiatric diseases, using PD as the primary example. A summary of the large body of relevant literature is presented on anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, and functional surgery for PD and other basal ganglia disorders. The signs and symptoms of movement disorders appear to result largely from signature abnormalities in one of several parallel and largely segregated basal ganglia thalamocortical circuits (ie, the motor circuit). The available evidence suggests that the varied movement disorders resulting from dysfunction of this circuit result from propagated disruption of downstream network activity in the thalamus, cortex, and brainstem. Ablation and DBS act to free downstream networks to function more normally. The basal ganglia thalamocortical circuit may play a key role in the expression of disordered movement, and the basal ganglia-brainstem projections may play roles in akinesia and disturbances of gait. Efforts are under way to target circuit dysfunction in brain areas outside of the traditionally implicated basal ganglia thalamocortical system, in particular, the pedunculopontine nucleus, to address gait disorders that respond poorly to levodopa and conventional DBS targets. Deep brain stimulation is now the treatment of choice for many patients with advanced PD and other movement disorders. The success of DBS and other forms of neuromodulation for neuropsychiatric disorders is the result of the ability to modulate circuit activity in discrete functional domains within the basal ganglia circuitry with highly focused interventions, which spare uninvolved areas that are often disrupted with

Seizures and Sleep in the Thalamus: Focal Limbic Seizures Show Divergent Activity Patterns in Different Thalamic Nuclei.

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Feng, Li; Motelow, Joshua E; Ma, Chanthia; Biche, William; McCafferty, Cian; Smith, Nicholas; Liu, Mengran; Zhan, Qiong; Jia, Ruonan; Xiao, Bo; Duque, Alvaro; Blumenfeld, Hal

2017-11-22

The thalamus plays diverse roles in cortical-subcortical brain activity patterns. Recent work suggests that focal temporal lobe seizures depress subcortical arousal systems and convert cortical activity into a pattern resembling slow-wave sleep. The potential simultaneous and paradoxical role of the thalamus in both limbic seizure propagation, and in sleep-like cortical rhythms has not been investigated. We recorded neuronal activity from the central lateral (CL), anterior (ANT), and ventral posteromedial (VPM) nuclei of the thalamus in an established female rat model of focal limbic seizures. We found that population firing of neurons in CL decreased during seizures while the cortex exhibited slow waves. In contrast, ANT showed a trend toward increased neuronal firing compatible with polyspike seizure discharges seen in the hippocampus. Meanwhile, VPM exhibited a remarkable increase in sleep spindles during focal seizures. Single-unit juxtacellular recordings from CL demonstrated reduced overall firing rates, but a switch in firing pattern from single spikes to burst firing during seizures. These findings suggest that different thalamic nuclei play very different roles in focal limbic seizures. While limbic nuclei, such as ANT, appear to participate directly in seizure propagation, arousal nuclei, such as CL, may contribute to depressed cortical function, whereas sleep spindles in relay nuclei, such as VPM, may interrupt thalamocortical information flow. These combined effects could be critical for controlling both seizure severity and impairment of consciousness. Further understanding of differential effects of seizures on different thalamocortical networks may lead to improved treatments directly targeting these modes of impaired function. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Temporal lobe epilepsy has a major negative impact on quality of life. Previous work suggests that the thalamus plays a critical role in thalamocortical network modulation and subcortical arousal

Spinal cord stimulation therapy for localized central pain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hirato, Masafumi; Takahashi, Akio; Watanabe, Katsushige; Kazama, Ken; Yoshimoto, Yuhei

2008-01-01

We studied the pathophysiology of localized central pain and the surgical result of spinal cord stimulation. There were 10 cases; 7 males and 3 females from 24 to 77 years old. Pain was caused by peripheral nerve injury in one case, spinal cord injury in two cases and cerebrovascular disease (CVD) (thalamic pain) in 7 cases. All cases were treated by epidural spinal cord stimulation and followed from 0.8 to 8.8 years. Sufficient pain relief was achieved in one case of peripheral nerve and spinal cord injury and in 4 cases of CVD. Moderate pain control was achieved in 2 cases of CVD. In one each case of spinal cord injury and of CVD, pain control was ineffective. In cases with thalamic pain, we studied the correlation between the surgical result of spinal cord stimulation and the clinical features, MRI, fluoro-deoxyglucose (FDG)-positron emission tomography (PET), and somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP) findings before operation. MRI revealed a small to moderate sized lesion on the thalamus or putamen in each case. PET also showed decreased accumulation of FDG on the affected thalamus. In all cases without one fair responder to spinal cord stimulation, we could recognize definite SEP originating in the sensory cortex ipsilateral side to the CVD lesion during contralateral median or posterior tibial nerve stimulation. In the good responders, we could recognize SEP originating in the sensory cortex of the lesion side with less delayed latency or decreased amplitude than in the moderate responders. In this group, test stimulation with low voltage on the spinal cord evoked a sensory effect (paresthesia) over the painful part of the body. Spinal cord stimulation proved to be an effective treatment for localized central pain. In cases with localized central pain after CVD, we could expect to ameliorate the intractable pain in those cases in which SEP or spinal cord test stimulation revealed that the thalamo-cortical system was preserved. (author)

Increased thalamic resting-state connectivity as a core driver of LSD-induced hallucinations.

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Müller, F; Lenz, C; Dolder, P; Lang, U; Schmidt, A; Liechti, M; Borgwardt, S

2017-12-01

It has been proposed that the thalamocortical system is an important site of action of hallucinogenic drugs and an essential component of the neural correlates of consciousness. Hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD can be used to induce profoundly altered states of consciousness, and it is thus of interest to test the effects of these drugs on this system. 100 μg LSD was administrated orally to 20 healthy participants prior to fMRI assessment. Whole brain thalamic functional connectivity was measured using ROI-to-ROI and ROI-to-voxel approaches. Correlation analyses were used to explore relationships between thalamic connectivity to regions involved in auditory and visual hallucinations and subjective ratings on auditory and visual drug effects. LSD caused significant alterations in all dimensions of the 5D-ASC scale and significantly increased thalamic functional connectivity to various cortical regions. Furthermore, LSD-induced functional connectivity measures between the thalamus and the right fusiform gyrus and insula correlated significantly with subjective auditory and visual drug effects. Hallucinogenic drug effects might be provoked by facilitations of cortical excitability via thalamocortical interactions. Our findings have implications for the understanding of the mechanism of action of hallucinogenic drugs and provide further insight into the role of the 5-HT 2A -receptor in altered states of consciousness. © 2017 The Authors Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A Simple fMRI Compatible Robotic Stimulator to Study the Neural Mechanisms of Touch and Pain.

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Riillo, F; Bagnato, C; Allievi, A G; Takagi, A; Fabrizi, L; Saggio, G; Arichi, T; Burdet, E

2016-08-01

This paper presents a simple device for the investigation of the human somatosensory system with functional magnetic imaging (fMRI). PC-controlled pneumatic actuation is employed to produce innocuous or noxious mechanical stimulation of the skin. Stimulation patterns are synchronized with fMRI and other relevant physiological measurements like electroencephalographic activity and vital physiological parameters. The system allows adjustable regulation of stimulation parameters and provides consistent patterns of stimulation. A validation experiment demonstrates that the system safely and reliably identifies clusters of functional activity in brain regions involved in the processing of pain. This new device is inexpensive, portable, easy-to-assemble and customizable to suit different experimental requirements. It provides robust and consistent somatosensory stimulation, which is of crucial importance to investigating the mechanisms of pain and its strong connection with the sense of touch.

Automatic postural response systems in individuals with congenital total blindness.

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Nakata, H; Yabe, K

2001-07-01

This study examined the effects of the absence of vision from birth on automatic postural responses to platform displacements during stance. Postural responses were induced by producing randomly four types of perturbations which consisted of forward and backward translations, and toe up and down rotations. Nine congenitally totally blind and nine sighted adults served as subjects. EMG signals were recorded from four muscles in the right leg, and reaction time to somatosensory stimuli generated by platform displacements was measured by pushing a hand-held button. To assess the ability to control postural balance, the root mean square (RMS) values for lateral and antero-posterior sway before, during, and after perturbations were calculated. The EMG amplitude in the gastrocnemius muscle of a blind subject was smaller than that of a sighted subject with eyes closed. No significant differences were found between blind and sighted subjects in EMG latencies of the lower extremity muscles in response to perturbations. The blind subjects had significantly faster reaction times to somatosensory stimuli triggered by platform displacements, but in toe down rotations no significant difference was found between blind and sighted subjects. The difference in the EMG latencies and reaction times between the two groups suggests that blindness from birth may not affect the spinal stretch reflex, but may affect a volitional act mediated through the motor cortex. There were also no significant differences in the RMS values for postural sway between blind and sighted subjects with eyes open or closed, although blind subjects swayed more after backward translations than did sighted subjects with eyes open. Results suggest that the ability to control postural balance during perturbations was not affected by vision loss from birth. Our findings suggest that the automatic postural response systems of humans are unaffected by the absence of vision from birth and are rather hard wired.

Interneuronal systems of the cervical spinal cord assessed with BOLD imaging at 1.5 T

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stracke, C.P.; Schoth, F.; Moeller-Hartmann, W.; Krings, T.; Pettersson, L.G.

2005-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate if functional activity with spinal cord somatosensory stimulation can be visualized using BOLD fMRI. We investigated nine healthy volunteers using a somatosensory stimulus generator. The stimuli were applied in three different runs at the first, third, and fifth finger tip of the right hand, respectively, corresponding to dermatomes c6, c7, and c8. The stimuli gave an increase of BOLD signal (activation) in three different locations of the spinal cord and brain stem. First, activations could be seen in the spinal segment corresponding to the stimulated dermatome in seven out of nine volunteers for c6 stimulation, two out of eight for c7, and three out of eight for c8. These activations were located close to the posterior margin of the spinal cord, presumably reflecting synaptic transmission to dorsal horn interneurons. Second, activation in the medulla oblongata was evident in four subjects, most likely corresponding to the location of the nucleus cuneatus. The third location of activation, which was the strongest and most reliable observed was inside the spinal cord in the c3 and c4 segments. Activation at these spinal levels was almost invariably observed independently of the dermatome stimulated (9/9 for c6, 8/8 for c7, and 7/8 for c8 stimulation). These activations may pertain to an interneuronal system at this spinal level. The results are discussed in relation to neurophysiological studies on cervical spinal interneuronal pathways in animals and humans. (orig.)

The biology of skin wetness perception and its implications in manual function and for reproducing complex somatosensory signals in neuroprosthetics.

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Filingeri, Davide; Ackerley, Rochelle

2017-04-01

Our perception of skin wetness is generated readily, yet humans have no known receptor (hygroreceptor) to signal this directly. It is easy to imagine the sensation of water running over our hands or the feel of rain on our skin. The synthetic sensation of wetness is thought to be produced from a combination of specific skin thermal and tactile inputs, registered through thermoreceptors and mechanoreceptors, respectively. The present review explores how thermal and tactile afference from the periphery can generate the percept of wetness centrally. We propose that the main signals include information about skin cooling, signaled primarily by thinly myelinated thermoreceptors, and rapid changes in touch, through fast-conducting, myelinated mechanoreceptors. Potential central sites for integration of these signals, and thus the perception of skin wetness, include the primary and secondary somatosensory cortices and the insula cortex. The interactions underlying these processes can also be modeled to aid in understanding and engineering the mechanisms. Furthermore, we discuss the role that sensing wetness could play in precision grip and the dexterous manipulation of objects. We expand on these lines of inquiry to the application of the knowledge in designing and creating skin sensory feedback in prosthetics. The addition of real-time, complex sensory signals would mark a significant advance in the use and incorporation of prosthetic body parts for amputees in everyday life. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Little is known about the underlying mechanisms that generate the perception of skin wetness. Humans have no specific hygroreceptor, and thus temperature and touch information combine to produce wetness sensations. The present review covers the potential mechanisms leading to the perception of wetness, both peripherally and centrally, along with their implications for manual function. These insights are relevant to inform the design of neuroengineering interfaces, such as sensory

Locomotor Sensory Organization Test: How Sensory Conflict Affects the Temporal Structure of Sway Variability During Gait.

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Chien, Jung Hung; Mukherjee, Mukul; Siu, Ka-Chun; Stergiou, Nicholas

2016-05-01

When maintaining postural stability temporally under increased sensory conflict, a more rigid response is used where the available degrees of freedom are essentially frozen. The current study investigated if such a strategy is also utilized during more dynamic situations of postural control as is the case with walking. This study attempted to answer this question by using the Locomotor Sensory Organization Test (LSOT). This apparatus incorporates SOT inspired perturbations of the visual and the somatosensory system. Ten healthy young adults performed the six conditions of the traditional SOT and the corresponding six conditions on the LSOT. The temporal structure of sway variability was evaluated from all conditions. The results showed that in the anterior posterior direction somatosensory input is crucial for postural control for both walking and standing; visual input also had an effect but was not as prominent as the somatosensory input. In the medial lateral direction and with respect to walking, visual input has a much larger effect than somatosensory input. This is possibly due to the added contributions by peripheral vision during walking; in standing such contributions may not be as significant for postural control. In sum, as sensory conflict increases more rigid and regular sway patterns are found during standing confirming the previous results presented in the literature, however the opposite was the case with walking where more exploratory and adaptive movement patterns are present.

Functional activity of the sensorimotor cortex and cerebellum relates to cervical dystonia symptoms.

Science.gov (United States)

Burciu, Roxana G; Hess, Christopher W; Coombes, Stephen A; Ofori, Edward; Shukla, Priyank; Chung, Jae Woo; McFarland, Nikolaus R; Wagle Shukla, Aparna; Okun, Michael S; Vaillancourt, David E

2017-09-01

Cervical dystonia (CD) is the most common type of focal dystonia, causing abnormal movements of the neck and head. In this study, we used noninvasive imaging to investigate the motor system of patients with CD and uncover the neural correlates of dystonic symptoms. Furthermore, we examined whether a commonly prescribed anticholinergic medication in CD has an effect on the dystonia-related brain abnormalities. Participants included 16 patients with CD and 16 healthy age-matched controls. We collected functional MRI scans during a force task previously shown to extensively engage the motor system, and diffusion and T1-weighted MRI scans from which we calculated free-water and brain tissue densities. The dystonia group was also scanned ca. 2 h after a 2-mg dose of trihexyphenidyl. Severity of dystonia was assessed pre- and post-drug using the Burke-Fahn-Marsden Dystonia Rating Scale. Motor-related activity in CD was altered relative to controls in the primary somatosensory cortex, cerebellum, dorsal premotor and posterior parietal cortices, and occipital cortex. Most importantly, a regression model showed that increased severity of symptoms was associated with decreased functional activity of the somatosensory cortex and increased activity of the cerebellum. Structural imaging measures did not differ between CD and controls. The single dose of trihexyphenidyl altered the fMRI signal in the somatosensory cortex but not in the cerebellum. Symptom severity was not significantly reduced post-treatment. Findings show widespread changes in functional brain activity in CD and most importantly that dystonic symptoms relate to disrupted activity in the somatosensory cortex and cerebellum. Hum Brain Mapp 38:4563-4573, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Age-related loss in attention-based modulation of tactile stimuli at early stages of somatosensory processing.

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Bolton, David A E; Staines, W Richard

2012-06-01

Normal aging has been linked to impairments in gating of irrelevant sensory information and neural markers of diminished cognitive processing. Whilst much of the research in this area has focussed on visual and auditory modalities it is unclear to what degree these findings apply to somatosensation. Therefore we investigated how age impacts early event-related potentials (ERPs) arising from relevant or irrelevant vibrotactile stimuli to the fingertips. Specifically, we hypothesised that older adults would demonstrate reduced attention-based modulation of tactile ERPs generated at early stages of cortical somatosensory processing. In accord with previous research we also expected to observe diminished P300 responses to attended targets and behavioural deficits. Participants received vibrotactile stimulation to the second and fifth digit on the left hand and reported target stimuli on one digit only (as instructed) with comparisons between two age groups: (1) Young adults (age range 20-39) and (2) Older adults (age range 62-89). ERP amplitudes for the P50, N70, P100, N140 and long latency positivity (LLP) were quantified for attended and non-attended trials at several electrodes (C4, CP4, CP3 and FC4). The P300 in response to attended target stimuli was measured at CPZ. There was no effect of attention on the P50 and N70 however the P100, N140 and LLP were modulated with attention. In both age groups the P100 and LLP were more positive during trials where the stimuli were attended to, whilst the N140 was enhanced for non-attended stimuli. Comparisons between groups revealed a reduction in P100 attention-based modulation for the older adults versus the young adults. This effect was due to a loss of suppression of the non-attended stimuli in older subjects. Moreover, the P300 was both slower and reduced in peak amplitude for older subjects in response to attended targets. Finally, older adults demonstrated impaired performance in terms of both reduced target detection

Acupuncture, the limbic system, and the anticorrelated networks of the brain.

Science.gov (United States)

Hui, Kathleen K S; Marina, Ovidiu; Liu, Jing; Rosen, Bruce R; Kwong, Kenneth K

2010-10-28

The study of the mechanism of acupuncture action was revolutionized by the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Over the past decade, our fMRI studies of healthy subjects have contributed substantially to elucidating the central effect of acupuncture on the human brain. These studies have shown that acupuncture stimulation, when associated with sensations comprising deqi, evokes deactivation of a limbic-paralimbic-neocortical network, which encompasses the limbic system, as well as activation of somatosensory brain regions. These networks closely match the default mode network and the anti-correlated task-positive network described in the literature. We have also shown that the effect of acupuncture on the brain is integrated at multiple levels, down to the brainstem and cerebellum. Our studies support the hypothesis that the effect of acupuncture on the brain goes beyond the effect of attention on the default mode network or the somatosensory stimulation of acupuncture needling. The amygdala and hypothalamus, in particular, show decreased activation during acupuncture stimulation that is not commonly associated with default mode network activity. At the same time, our research shows that acupuncture stimulation needs to be done carefully, limiting stimulation when the resulting sensations are very strong or when sharp pain is elicited. When acupuncture induced sharp pain, our studies show that the deactivation was attenuated or reversed in direction. Our results suggest that acupuncture mobilizes the functionally anti-correlated networks of the brain to mediate its actions, and that the effect is dependent on the psychophysical response. In this work we also discuss multiple avenues of future research, including the role of neurotransmitters, the effect of different acupuncture techniques, and the potential clinical application of our research findings to disease states including chronic pain, major depression, schizophrenia, autism, and Alzheimer

Comparison of fMRI BOLD response patterns by electrical stimulation of the ventroposterior complex and medial thalamus of the rat.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pai-Feng Yang

Full Text Available The objective of this study was to compare the functional connectivity of the lateral and medial thalamocortical pain pathways by investigating the blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD activation patterns in the forebrain elicited by direct electrical stimulation of the ventroposterior (VP and medial (MT thalamus. An MRI-compatible stimulation electrode was implanted in the VP or MT of α-chloralose-anesthetized rats. Electrical stimulation was applied to the VP or MT at various intensities (50 µA to 300 µA and frequencies (1 Hz to 12 Hz. BOLD responses were analyzed in the ipsilateral forelimb region of the primary somatosensory cortex (iS1FL after VP stimulation and in the ipsilateral cingulate cortex (iCC after MT stimulation. When stimulating the VP, the strongest activation occurred at 3 Hz. The stimulation intensity threshold was 50 µA and the response rapidly peaked at 100 µA. When stimulating the MT, The optimal frequency for stimulation was 9 Hz or 12 Hz, the stimulation intensity threshold was 100 µA and we observed a graded increase in the BOLD response following the application of higher intensity stimuli. We also evaluated c-Fos expression following the application of a 200-µA stimulus. Ventroposterior thalamic stimulation elicited c-Fos-positivity in few cells in the iS1FL and caudate putamen (iCPu. Medial thalamic stimulation, however, produced numerous c-Fos-positive cells in the iCC and iCPu. The differential BOLD responses and c-Fos expressions elicited by VP and MT stimulation indicate differences in stimulus-response properties of the medial and lateral thalamic pain pathways.

Prefrontal-Thalamic Anatomical Connectivity and Executive Cognitive Function in Schizophrenia.

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Giraldo-Chica, Monica; Rogers, Baxter P; Damon, Stephen M; Landman, Bennett A; Woodward, Neil D

2018-03-15

Executive cognitive functions, including working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibition, are impaired in schizophrenia. Executive functions rely on coordinated information processing between the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and thalamus, particularly the mediodorsal nucleus. This raises the possibility that anatomical connectivity between the PFC and mediodorsal thalamus may be 1) reduced in schizophrenia and 2) related to deficits in executive function. The current investigation tested these hypotheses. Forty-five healthy subjects and 62 patients with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder completed a battery of tests of executive function and underwent diffusion-weighted imaging. Probabilistic tractography was used to quantify anatomical connectivity between six cortical regions, including PFC, and the thalamus. Thalamocortical anatomical connectivity was compared between healthy subjects and patients with schizophrenia using region-of-interest and voxelwise approaches, and the association between PFC-thalamic anatomical connectivity and severity of executive function impairment was examined in patients. Anatomical connectivity between the thalamus and PFC was reduced in schizophrenia. Voxelwise analysis localized the reduction to areas of the mediodorsal thalamus connected to lateral PFC. Reduced PFC-thalamic connectivity in schizophrenia correlated with impaired working memory but not cognitive flexibility and inhibition. In contrast to reduced PFC-thalamic connectivity, thalamic connectivity with somatosensory and occipital cortices was increased in schizophrenia. The results are consistent with models implicating disrupted PFC-thalamic connectivity in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and mechanisms of cognitive impairment. PFC-thalamic anatomical connectivity may be an important target for procognitive interventions. Further work is needed to determine the implications of increased thalamic connectivity with sensory cortex. Copyright © 2017 Society of

76 FR 24036 - Center for Scientific Review; Notice of Closed Meetings

Science.gov (United States)

2011-04-29

...: Digestive, Kidney and Urological Systems Integrated Review Group, Pathobiology of Kidney Disease Study... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health Center for Scientific Review... Group, Somatosensory and Chemosensory Systems Study Section. Datea: June 7-8, 2011. Time: 8 a.m. to 5 p...

The brain’s response to pleasant touch: an EEG investigation of tactile caressing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Harsimrat eSingh

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Somatosensation as a proximal sense can have a strong impact on our attitude towards physical objects and other human beings. However, relatively little is known about how hedonic valence of touch is processed at the cortical level. Here we investigated the electrophysiological correlates of affective tactile sensation during caressing of the right forearm with pleasant and unpleasant textile fabrics. We show dissociation between more physically driven differential brain responses to the different fabrics in early somatosensory cortex – the well-known mu-suppression (10-20 Hz - and a beta-band response (25-30 Hz in presumably higher-order somatosensory areas in the right-hemisphere that correlated well with the subjective valence of tactile caressing. Importantly, when using single trial classification techniques, beta-power significantly distinguished between pleasant and unpleasant stimulation on a single trial basis with high accuracy. Our results therefore suggest a dissociation of the sensory and affective aspects of touch in the somatosensory system and may provide features that may be used for single trial decoding of affective mental states from simple electroencephalographic measurements.

Sensory processing of deep tissue nociception in the rat spinal cord and thalamic ventrobasal complex.

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Sikandar, Shafaq; West, Steven J; McMahon, Stephen B; Bennett, David L; Dickenson, Anthony H

2017-07-01

Sensory processing of deep somatic tissue constitutes an important component of the nociceptive system, yet associated central processing pathways remain poorly understood. Here, we provide a novel electrophysiological characterization and immunohistochemical analysis of neural activation in the lateral spinal nucleus (LSN). These neurons show evoked activity to deep, but not cutaneous, stimulation. The evoked responses of neurons in the LSN can be sensitized to somatosensory stimulation following intramuscular hypertonic saline, an acute model of muscle pain, suggesting this is an important spinal relay site for the processing of deep tissue nociceptive inputs. Neurons of the thalamic ventrobasal complex (VBC) mediate both cutaneous and deep tissue sensory processing, but in contrast to the lateral spinal nucleus our electrophysiological studies do not suggest the existence of a subgroup of cells that selectively process deep tissue inputs. The sensitization of polymodal and thermospecific VBC neurons to mechanical somatosensory stimulation following acute muscle stimulation with hypertonic saline suggests differential roles of thalamic subpopulations in mediating cutaneous and deep tissue nociception in pathological states. Overall, our studies at both the spinal (lateral spinal nucleus) and supraspinal (thalamic ventrobasal complex) levels suggest a convergence of cutaneous and deep somatosensory inputs onto spinothalamic pathways, which are unmasked by activation of muscle nociceptive afferents to produce consequent phenotypic alterations in spinal and thalamic neural coding of somatosensory stimulation. A better understanding of the sensory pathways involved in deep tissue nociception, as well as the degree of labeled line and convergent pathways for cutaneous and deep somatosensory inputs, is fundamental to developing targeted analgesic therapies for deep pain syndromes. © 2017 University College London. Physiological Reports published by Wiley Periodicals

Long-term neuroplasticity of the face primary motor cortex and adjacent somatosensory cortex induced by tooth loss can be reversed following dental implant replacement in rats.

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Avivi-Arber, Limor; Lee, Jye-Chang; Sood, Mandeep; Lakschevitz, Flavia; Fung, Michelle; Barashi-Gozal, Maayan; Glogauer, Michael; Sessle, Barry J

2015-11-01

Tooth loss is common, and exploring the neuroplastic capacity of the face primary motor cortex (face-M1) and adjacent primary somatosensory cortex (face-S1) is crucial for understanding how subjects adapt to tooth loss and their prosthetic replacement. The aim was to test if functional reorganization of jaw and tongue motor representations in the rat face-M1 and face-S1 occurs following tooth extraction, and if subsequent dental implant placement can reverse this neuroplasticity. Rats (n = 22) had the right maxillary molar teeth extracted under local and general anesthesia. One month later, seven rats had dental implant placement into healed extraction sites. Naive rats (n = 8) received no surgical treatment. Intracortical microstimulation (ICMS) and recording of evoked jaw and tongue electromyographic responses were used to define jaw and tongue motor representations at 1 month (n = 8) or 2 months (n = 7) postextraction, 1 month postimplant placement, and at 1-2 months in naive rats. There were no significant differences across study groups in the onset latencies of the ICMS-evoked responses (P > 0.05), but in comparison with naive rats, tooth extraction caused a significant (P rats. These novel findings suggest that face-M1 and adjacent face-S1 may play a role in adaptive mechanisms related to tooth loss and their replacement with dental implants. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Effects of electrical water bath stunning current frequencies on the spontaneous electroencephalogram and somatosensory evoked potentials in hens.

Science.gov (United States)

Raj, A B M; O'Callaghan, M

2004-04-01

1. The effectiveness of water bath electrical stunning of chickens with a constant root mean square (rms) current of 100 mA per bird delivered for 3 s using 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1500 Hz sine wave alternating current (AC) was investigated in layer hens. The quantitative changes occurring in the electroencephalogram (EEG) and somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) were used to determine the effectiveness of stunning. The changes occurring in the EEG were evaluated using Fast Fourier Transformations (FFT) and the SEPs were averaged to determine whether they were present or abolished. 2. The results of FFT indicated that stunning of chickens with a constant rms current of 100 mA per bird using 100 or 200 Hz induced epileptiform activity in all the hens, immediately followed by a reduction in the total (2 to 30 Hz) and relative (13 to 30 Hz) power contents in the EEG frequency bands indicative of unconsciousness and insensibility. The SEPs were abolished in the majority of hens stunned with 100 Hz and all the hens stunned with 200 Hz. 3. By contrast, stunning using 400, 800 or 1500 Hz failed to induce epileptiform activity in all the birds, the total and relative power contents in the EEG frequency bands showed a substantial increase, rather than reduction, and the SEPs were also retained in the majority of chickens. It is therefore suggested that stunning using these frequencies failed to stun them satisfactorily. In these birds, occurrence of a painful arousal, rather than unconsciousness, could not be ruled out. 4. It is therefore suggested that water bath electrical stunning of chickens with a minimum rms current of 100 mA per bird delivered using 100 or 200 Hz would be adequate to ensure bird welfare under commercial conditions, provided both the carotid arteries in the neck are severed at slaughter. On humanitarian and bird welfare grounds, a rms current of greater than 100 mA per bird should be applied whilst using frequencies of 400 Hz or more of sine wave AC

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Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Unknown

A four-element based transposon system for allele specific tagging in plants ... 191. BRCA1. Analysis of BRCA1 involvement in breast cancer in Indian women. 19. Brain ... Cortical tissue. Transfer of learning across the somatosensory cortex. 5.

Multi-sensory integration in brainstem and auditory cortex.

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Basura, Gregory J; Koehler, Seth D; Shore, Susan E

2012-11-16

Tinnitus is the perception of sound in the absence of a physical sound stimulus. It is thought to arise from aberrant neural activity within central auditory pathways that may be influenced by multiple brain centers, including the somatosensory system. Auditory-somatosensory (bimodal) integration occurs in the dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN), where electrical activation of somatosensory regions alters pyramidal cell spike timing and rates of sound stimuli. Moreover, in conditions of tinnitus, bimodal integration in DCN is enhanced, producing greater spontaneous and sound-driven neural activity, which are neural correlates of tinnitus. In primary auditory cortex (A1), a similar auditory-somatosensory integration has been described in the normal system (Lakatos et al., 2007), where sub-threshold multisensory modulation may be a direct reflection of subcortical multisensory responses (Tyll et al., 2011). The present work utilized simultaneous recordings from both DCN and A1 to directly compare bimodal integration across these separate brain stations of the intact auditory pathway. Four-shank, 32-channel electrodes were placed in DCN and A1 to simultaneously record tone-evoked unit activity in the presence and absence of spinal trigeminal nucleus (Sp5) electrical activation. Bimodal stimulation led to long-lasting facilitation or suppression of single and multi-unit responses to subsequent sound in both DCN and A1. Immediate (bimodal response) and long-lasting (bimodal plasticity) effects of Sp5-tone stimulation were facilitation or suppression of tone-evoked firing rates in DCN and A1 at all Sp5-tone pairing intervals (10, 20, and 40 ms), and greater suppression at 20 ms pairing-intervals for single unit responses. Understanding the complex relationships between DCN and A1 bimodal processing in the normal animal provides the basis for studying its disruption in hearing loss and tinnitus models. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Tinnitus Neuroscience

Corticothalamic and corticotectal somatosensory projections from the anterior ectosylvian sulcus (SIV cortex) in neonatal cats: an anatomical demonstration with HRP and 3H-leucine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McHaffie, J.G.; Kruger, L.; Clemo, H.R.; Stein, B.E.

1988-01-01

Corticothalamic and corticotectal projections from the anterior ectosylvian sulcus (AES) in neonatal cats were studied with anterograde and retrograde neuroanatomical techniques. When the injection site was relatively restricted to the sulcal walls and fundus of the rostral AES (i.e., the SIV cortex), heavy ipsilateral thalamic label was observed in the medial subdivision of the posterior group, in the suprageniculate nucleus, and in the external medullary lamina. No terminal label was seen in the contralateral thalamus although the contralateral homotopic cortex was heavily labeled. Within the ventrobasal complex (VB), dense axonal label was observed in fascicles that traversed VB, but only light terminal label was observed within VB itself. However, in cases where the tracer spread into adjacent SII, terminal label in VB was pronounced. Similarly, when the injection site extended into auditory cortex, terminal label was observed in the lateral and intermediate subdivisions of the posterior group. Rostral AES injections produced distinct, predominantly ipsilateral, terminal label in the superior colliculus that was distributed in two tiers: a discontinuous band in the stratum griseum intermedium and a more diffuse band in stratum griseum profundum. Caudally, dense terminal label was seen in the intercollicular zone and dorsolateral periaqueductal gray. When the injection site did not include rostral AES, no label was observed in the superior colliculus. Horseradish peroxidase injections into the superior colliculus of neonates produced retrogradely labeled neurons throughout the AES, but none was found on the crown of the gyrus where SII is located. Thus, the neonatal corticotectal somatosensory projection arises exclusively from AES and parallels that found in adults

Postural stability in the elderly during sensory perturbations and dual tasking: the influence of refractive blur.

Science.gov (United States)

Anand, Vijay; Buckley, John G; Scally, Andy; Elliott, David B

2003-07-01

To determine the influence of refractive blur on postural stability during somatosensory and vestibular system perturbation and dual tasking. Fifteen healthy, elderly subjects (mean age, 71 +/- 5 years), who had no history of falls and had normal vision, were recruited. Postural stability during standing was assessed using a force platform, and was determined as the root mean square (RMS) of the center of pressure (COP) signal in the anterior-posterior (A-P) and medial-lateral directions collected over a 30-second period. Data were collected under normal standing conditions and with somatosensory and vestibular system perturbations. Measurements were repeated with an additional physical and/or cognitive task. Postural stability was measured under conditions of binocular refractive blur of 0, 1, 2, 4, and 8 D and with eyes closed. The data were analyzed with a population-averaged linear model. The greatest increases in postural instability were due to disruptions of the somatosensory and vestibular systems. Increasing refractive blur caused increasing postural instability, and its effect was greater when the input from the other sensory systems was disrupted. Performing an additional cognitive and physical task increased A-P RMS COP further. All these detrimental effects on postural stability were cumulative. The findings highlight the multifactorial nature of postural stability and indicate why the elderly, many of whom have poor vision and musculoskeletal and central nervous system degeneration, are at greater risk of falling. The findings also highlight that standing instability in both normal and perturbed conditions was significantly increased with refractive blur. Correcting visual impairment caused by uncorrected refractive error could be a useful intervention strategy to help prevent falls and fall-related injuries in the elderly.

Decreased visual attention further from the perceived direction of gaze for equidistant retinal targets

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Balslev, Daniela; Gowen, Emma; Miall, R Chris

2011-01-01

The oculomotor and spatial attention systems are interconnected. Whereas a link between motor commands and spatial shifts in visual attention is demonstrated, it is still unknown whether the recently discovered proprioceptive signal in somatosensory cortex impacts on visual attention, too...

Right secondary somatosensory cortex-a promising novel target for the treatment of drug-resistant neuropathic orofacial pain with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Lindholm, Pauliina; Lamusuo, Salla; Taiminen, Tero; Pesonen, Ullamari; Lahti, Ari; Virtanen, Arja; Forssell, Heli; Hietala, Jarmo; Hagelberg, Nora; Pertovaara, Antti; Parkkola, Riitta; Jääskeläinen, Satu

2015-07-01

High-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of the motor cortex has analgesic effect; however, the efficacy of other cortical targets and the mode of action remain unclear. We examined the effects of rTMS in neuropathic orofacial pain, and compared 2 cortical targets against placebo. Furthermore, as dopaminergic mechanisms modulate pain responses, we assessed the influence of the functional DRD2 gene polymorphism (957C>T) and the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) Val158Met polymorphism on the analgesic effect of rTMS. Sixteen patients with chronic drug-resistant neuropathic orofacial pain participated in this randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover study. Navigated high-frequency rTMS was given to the sensorimotor (S1/M1) and the right secondary somatosensory (S2) cortices. All subjects were genotyped for the DRD2 957C>T and COMT Val158Met polymorphisms. Pain, mood, and quality of life were monitored throughout the study. The numerical rating scale pain scores were significantly lower after the S2 stimulation than after the S1/M1 (P = 0.0071) or the sham (P = 0.0187) stimulations. The Brief Pain Inventory scores were also lower 3 to 5 days after the S2 stimulation than those at pretreatment baseline (P = 0.0127 for the intensity of pain and P = 0.0074 for the interference of pain) or after the S1/M1 (P = 0.001 and P = 0.0001) and sham (P = 0.0491 and P = 0.0359) stimulations. No correlations were found between the genetic polymorphisms and the analgesic effect in the present small clinical sample. The right S2 cortex is a promising new target for the treatment of neuropathic orofacial pain with high-frequency rTMS.

In vivo patch-clamp analysis of response properties of rat primary somatosensory cortical neurons responding to noxious stimulation of the facial skin

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nasu Masanori

2010-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Although it has been widely accepted that the primary somatosensory (SI cortex plays an important role in pain perception, it still remains unclear how the nociceptive mechanisms of synaptic transmission occur at the single neuron level. The aim of the present study was to examine whether noxious stimulation applied to the orofacial area evokes the synaptic response of SI neurons in urethane-anesthetized rats using an in vivo patch-clamp technique. Results In vivo whole-cell current-clamp recordings were performed in rat SI neurons (layers III-IV. Twenty-seven out of 63 neurons were identified in the mechanical receptive field of the orofacial area (36 neurons showed no receptive field and they were classified as non-nociceptive (low-threshold mechanoreceptive; 6/27, 22% and nociceptive neurons. Nociceptive neurons were further divided into wide-dynamic range neurons (3/27, 11% and nociceptive-specific neurons (18/27, 67%. In the majority of these neurons, a proportion of the excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs reached the threshold, and then generated random discharges of action potentials. Noxious mechanical stimuli applied to the receptive field elicited a discharge of action potentials on the barrage of EPSPs. In the case of noxious chemical stimulation applied as mustard oil to the orofacial area, the membrane potential shifted depolarization and the rate of spontaneous discharges gradually increased as did the noxious pinch-evoked discharge rates, which were usually associated with potentiated EPSP amplitudes. Conclusions The present study provides evidence that SI neurons in deep layers III-V respond to the temporal summation of EPSPs due to noxious mechanical and chemical stimulation applied to the orofacial area and that these neurons may contribute to the processing of nociceptive information, including hyperalgesia.

Neuroimaging of psychotherapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder: A systematic review

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Thorsen, A.L.; van den Heuvel, O.A.; Hansen, B.; Kvale, G.

2015-01-01

The symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) include intrusive thoughts, compulsive behavior, anxiety, and cognitive inflexibility, which are associated with dysfunction in dorsal and ventral corticostriato-thalamocortical (CSTC) circuits. Psychotherapy involving exposure and response

Deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus alters frontal activity during spatial working memory maintenance of patients with Parkinson's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Mayer, Jutta S; Neimat, Joseph; Folley, Bradley S; Bourne, Sarah K; Konrad, Peter E; Charles, David; Park, Sohee

2016-08-01

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) improves the motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD). The STN may represent an important relay station not only in the motor but also the associative cortico-striato-thalamocortical pathway. Therefore, STN stimulation may alter cognitive functions, such as working memory (WM). We examined cortical effects of STN-DBS on WM in early PD patients using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. The effects of dopaminergic medication on WM were also examined. Lateral frontal activity during WM maintenance was greater when patients were taking dopaminergic medication. STN-DBS led to a trend-level worsening of WM performance, accompanied by increased lateral frontal activity during WM maintenance. These findings suggest that STN-DBS in PD might lead to functional modifications of the basal ganglia-thalamocortical pathway during WM maintenance.

Optical cuff for optogenetic control of the peripheral nervous system

Science.gov (United States)

Michoud, Frédéric; Sottas, Loïc; Browne, Liam E.; Asboth, Léonie; Latremoliere, Alban; Sakuma, Miyuki; Courtine, Grégoire; Woolf, Clifford J.; Lacour, Stéphanie P.

2018-02-01

Objective. Nerves in the peripheral nervous system (PNS) contain axons with specific motor, somatosensory and autonomic functions. Optogenetics offers an efficient approach to selectively activate axons within the nerve. However, the heterogeneous nature of nerves and their tortuous route through the body create a challenging environment to reliably implant a light delivery interface. Approach. Here, we propose an optical peripheral nerve interface—an optocuff—, so that optogenetic modulation of peripheral nerves become possible in freely behaving mice. Main results. Using this optocuff, we demonstrate orderly recruitment of motor units with epineural optical stimulation of genetically targeted sciatic nerve axons, both in anaesthetized and in awake, freely behaving animals. Behavioural experiments and histology show the optocuff does not damage the nerve thus is suitable for long-term experiments. Significance. These results suggest that the soft optocuff might be a straightforward and efficient tool to support more extensive study of the PNS using optogenetics.

Multisensory Stimulation to Improve Low- and Higher-Level Sensory Deficits after Stroke : A Systematic Review

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tinga, A.M.; Visser-Meily, Johanna M a; van der Smagt, M.J.; van der Stigchel, S.; van Ee, R.; Nijboer, T.C.W.

The aim of this systematic review was to integrate and assess evidence for the effectiveness of multisensory stimulation (i.e., stimulating at least two of the following sensory systems: visual, auditory, and somatosensory) as a possible rehabilitation method after stroke. Evidence was considered

Can explicit visual feedback of postural sway efface the effects of sensory manipulations on mediolateral balance performance?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cofre Lizama, L.E.; Pijnappels, M.A.G.M.; Reeves, N.P.; Verschueren, S.M.; van Dieen, J.H.

2016-01-01

Explicit visual feedback on postural sway is often used in balance assessment and training. However, up-weighting of visual information may mask impairments of other sensory systems. We therefore aimed to determine whether the effects of somatosensory, vestibular, and proprioceptive manipulations on

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Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Unknown

primary somatosensory cortex or area 3b of owl monkeys is deprived of its ... of these observations by extending them to visual, auditory and motor systems, to .... M and Ebner F F 1998 Experience-dependent plasticity of adult rat S1 cortex.

Sex differences in sensorimotor mu rhythms during selective attentional processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Popovich, C; Dockstader, C; Cheyne, D; Tannock, R

2010-12-01

We used magnetoencephalography to investigate the effect of directed attention on sensorimotor mu (8-12 Hz) response (mu reactivity) to non-painful electrical stimulation of the median nerve in healthy adults. Mu desynchronization in the 10-12 Hz bandwidth is typically observed during higher-order cognitive functions including selective attentional processing of sensorimotor information (Pfurtscheller, Neuper, & Krauz, 2000). We found attention-related sex differences in mu reactivity, with females showing (i) prolonged mu desynchrony when attending to somatosensory stimuli, (ii) attentional modulation of the mu response based on whether attention was directed towards or away from somatosensory stimuli, which was absent in males, and (iii) a trend for greater neuronal excitability of the primary somatosensory region suggesting greater physiological responsiveness to sensory stimulation overall. Our findings suggest sex differences in attentional control strategies when processing somatosensory stimuli, whose salience may be greater for females. These sex differences in attention to somatosensory stimuli may help elucidate the well-documented sex biases in pain processing wherein females typically report greater sensitivity to experimental and clinical pain. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Correlation of quantitative sensorimotor tractography with clinical grade of cerebral palsy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Trivedi, Richa; Gupta, Rakesh K.; Agarwal, Shruti; Rathore, Ram K.S.; Shah, Vipul; Goyel, Puneet; Paliwal, Vimal K.

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine whether tract-specific diffusion tensor imaging measures in somatosensory and motor pathways correlate with clinical grades as defined using the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) in cerebral palsy (CP) children. Quantitative diffusion tensor tractography was performed on 39 patients with spastic quadriparesis (mean age = 8 years) and 14 age/sex-matched controls. All patients were graded on the basis of GMFCS scale into grade II (n = 12), grade IV (n = 22), and grade V (n = 5) CP and quantitative analysis reconstruction of somatosensory and motor tracts performed. Significant inverse correlation between clinical grade and fractional anisotropy (FA) was observed in both right and left motor and sensory tracts. A significant direct correlation of mean diffusivity values from both motor and sensory tracts was also observed with clinical grades. Successive decrease in FA values was observed in all tracts except for left motor tracts moving from age/sex-matched controls to grade V through grades II and IV. We conclude that white matter tracts from both the somatosensory and the motor cortex play an important role in the pathophysiology of motor disability in patients with CP. (orig.)

Neural substrates of reliability-weighted visual-tactile multisensory integration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael S Beauchamp

2010-06-01

Full Text Available As sensory systems deteriorate in aging or disease, the brain must relearn the appropriate weights to assign each modality during multisensory integration. Using blood-oxygen level dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD fMRI of human subjects, we tested a model for the neural mechanisms of sensory weighting, termed “weighted connections”. This model holds that the connection weights between early and late areas vary depending on the reliability of the modality, independent of the level of early sensory cortex activity. When subjects detected viewed and felt touches to the hand, a network of brain areas was active, including visual areas in lateral occipital cortex, somatosensory areas in inferior parietal lobe, and multisensory areas in the intraparietal sulcus (IPS. In agreement with the weighted connection model, the connection weight measured with structural equation modeling between somatosensory cortex and IPS increased for somatosensory-reliable stimuli, and the connection weight between visual cortex and IPS increased for visual-reliable stimuli. This double dissociation of connection strengths was similar to the pattern of behavioral responses during incongruent multisensory stimulation, suggesting that weighted connections may be a neural mechanism for behavioral reliability weighting.for behavioral reliability weighting.