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Van Hoornweder S, Geraerts M, Verstraelen S, Nuyts M, Caulfield KA, Meesen R. Differences in scalp-to-cortex tissues across age groups, sexes and brain regions: Implications for neuroimaging and brain stimulation techniques. Neurobiol Aging 2024; 138:45-62. [PMID: 38531217 PMCID: PMC11141186 DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2024.02.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2023] [Revised: 02/20/2024] [Accepted: 02/21/2024] [Indexed: 03/28/2024]
Abstract
Aging affects the scalp-to-cortex distance (SCD) and the comprising tissues. This is crucial for noninvasive neuroimaging and brain stimulation modalities as they rely on traversing from the scalp to the cortex or vice versa. The specific relationship between aging and these tissues has not been comprehensively investigated. We conducted a study on 250 younger and older adults to examine age-related differences in SCD and its constituent tissues. We identified region-specific differences in tissue thicknesses related to age and sex. Older adults exhibit larger SCD in the frontocentral regions compared to younger adults. Men exhibit greater SCD in the inferior scalp regions, while women show similar-to-greater SCD values in regions closer to the vertex compared to men. Younger adults and men have thicker soft tissue layers, whereas women and older adults exhibit thicker compact bone layers. CSF is considerably thicker in older adults, particularly in men. These findings emphasize the need to consider age, sex, and regional differences when interpreting SCD and its implications for noninvasive neuroimaging and brain stimulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sybren Van Hoornweder
- REVAL - Rehabilitation Research Center, Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Hasselt, Diepenbeek, Belgium.
| | - Marc Geraerts
- REVAL - Rehabilitation Research Center, Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Hasselt, Diepenbeek, Belgium
| | - Stefanie Verstraelen
- REVAL - Rehabilitation Research Center, Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Hasselt, Diepenbeek, Belgium
| | - Marten Nuyts
- REVAL - Rehabilitation Research Center, Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Hasselt, Diepenbeek, Belgium
| | - Kevin A Caulfield
- Brain Stimulation Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA
| | - Raf Meesen
- REVAL - Rehabilitation Research Center, Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Hasselt, Diepenbeek, Belgium; Movement Control and Neuroplasticity Research Group, Department of Movement Sciences, Group Biomedical Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
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2
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Van Hoornweder S, Geraerts M, Verstraelen S, Nuyts M, Caulfield KA, Meesen R. From scalp to cortex, the whole isn't greater than the sum of its parts: introducing GetTissueThickness (GTT) to assess age and sex differences in tissue thicknesses. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.04.18.537177. [PMID: 37131842 PMCID: PMC10153183 DOI: 10.1101/2023.04.18.537177] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
Noninvasive techniques to record and stimulate the brain rely on passing through the tissues in between the scalp and cortex. Currently, there is no method to obtain detailed information about these scalp-to-cortex distance (SCD) tissues. We introduce GetTissueThickness (GTT), an open-source, automated approach to quantify SCD, and unveil how tissue thicknesses differ across age groups, sexes and brain regions (n = 250). We show that men have larger SCD in lower scalp regions and women have similar-to-larger SCD in regions closer to the vertex, with aging resulting in increased SCD in fronto-central regions. Soft tissue thickness varies by sex and age, with thicker layers and greater age-related decreases in men. Compact and spongy bone thickness also differ across sexes and age groups, with thicker compact bone in women in both age groups and an age-related thickening. Older men generally have the thickest cerebrospinal fluid layer and younger women and men having similar cerebrospinal fluid layers. Aging mostly results in grey matter thinning. Concerning SCD, the whole isn't greater than the sum of its parts. GTT enables rapid quantification of the SCD tissues. The distinctive sensitivity of noninvasive recording and stimulation modalities to different tissues underscores the relevance of GTT.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sybren Van Hoornweder
- REVAL - Rehabilitation Research Center, Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Hasselt, Diepenbeek, Belgium
| | - Marc Geraerts
- REVAL - Rehabilitation Research Center, Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Hasselt, Diepenbeek, Belgium
| | - Stefanie Verstraelen
- REVAL - Rehabilitation Research Center, Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Hasselt, Diepenbeek, Belgium
| | - Marten Nuyts
- REVAL - Rehabilitation Research Center, Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Hasselt, Diepenbeek, Belgium
| | - Kevin A. Caulfield
- Brain Stimulation Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA
| | - Raf Meesen
- REVAL - Rehabilitation Research Center, Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Hasselt, Diepenbeek, Belgium
- Movement Control and Neuroplasticity Research Group, Department of Movement Sciences, Group Biomedical Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
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3
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Stauch BJ, Peter A, Ehrlich I, Nolte Z, Fries P. Human visual gamma for color stimuli. eLife 2022; 11:e75897. [PMID: 35532123 PMCID: PMC9122493 DOI: 10.7554/elife.75897] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2021] [Accepted: 05/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Strong gamma-band oscillations in primate early visual cortex can be induced by homogeneous color surfaces (Peter et al., 2019; Shirhatti and Ray, 2018). Compared to other hues, particularly strong gamma oscillations have been reported for red stimuli. However, precortical color processing and the resultant strength of input to V1 have often not been fully controlled for. Therefore, stronger responses to red might be due to differences in V1 input strength. We presented stimuli that had equal luminance and cone contrast levels in a color coordinate system based on responses of the lateral geniculate nucleus, the main input source for area V1. With these stimuli, we recorded magnetoencephalography in 30 human participants. We found gamma oscillations in early visual cortex which, contrary to previous reports, did not differ between red and green stimuli of equal L-M cone contrast. Notably, blue stimuli with contrast exclusively on the S-cone axis induced very weak gamma responses, as well as smaller event-related fields and poorer change-detection performance. The strength of human color gamma responses for stimuli on the L-M axis could be well explained by L-M cone contrast and did not show a clear red bias when L-M cone contrast was properly equalized.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin J Stauch
- Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck SocietyFrankfurtGermany
- International Max Planck Research School for Neural CircuitsFrankfurtGermany
- Brain Imaging Center, Goethe University FrankfurtFrankfurtGermany
| | - Alina Peter
- Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck SocietyFrankfurtGermany
- International Max Planck Research School for Neural CircuitsFrankfurtGermany
| | - Isabelle Ehrlich
- Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck SocietyFrankfurtGermany
- Department of Psychology, Goethe University FrankfurtFrankfurtGermany
| | - Zora Nolte
- Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck SocietyFrankfurtGermany
| | - Pascal Fries
- Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck SocietyFrankfurtGermany
- International Max Planck Research School for Neural CircuitsFrankfurtGermany
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University NijmegenNijmegenNetherlands
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Kupers ER, Benson NC, Winawer J. A visual encoding model links magnetoencephalography signals to neural synchrony in human cortex. Neuroimage 2021; 245:118655. [PMID: 34687857 PMCID: PMC8788390 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118655] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2021] [Accepted: 10/11/2021] [Indexed: 01/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Synchronization of neuronal responses over large distances is hypothesized to be important for many cortical functions. However, no straightforward methods exist to estimate synchrony non-invasively in the living human brain. MEG and EEG measure the whole brain, but the sensors pool over large, overlapping cortical regions, obscuring the underlying neural synchrony. Here, we developed a model from stimulus to cortex to MEG sensors to disentangle neural synchrony from spatial pooling of the instrument. We find that synchrony across cortex has a surprisingly large and systematic effect on predicted MEG spatial topography. We then conducted visual MEG experiments and separated responses into stimulus-locked and broadband components. The stimulus-locked topography was similar to model predictions assuming synchronous neural sources, whereas the broadband topography was similar to model predictions assuming asynchronous sources. We infer that visual stimulation elicits two distinct types of neural responses, one highly synchronous and one largely asynchronous across cortex.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eline R Kupers
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY 10003, United States; Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY 10003, United States; Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, United States.
| | - Noah C Benson
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY 10003, United States; Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY 10003, United States; eSciences Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, United States
| | - Jonathan Winawer
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY 10003, United States; Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY 10003, United States
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Manyukhina VO, Rostovtseva EN, Prokofyev AO, Obukhova TS, Schneiderman JF, Stroganova TA, Orekhova EV. Visual gamma oscillations predict sensory sensitivity in females as they do in males. Sci Rep 2021; 11:12013. [PMID: 34103578 PMCID: PMC8187436 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-91381-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/27/2020] [Accepted: 05/21/2021] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Gamma oscillations are driven by local cortical excitatory (E)-inhibitory (I) loops and may help to characterize neural processing involving excitatory-inhibitory interactions. In the visual cortex reliable gamma oscillations can be recorded with magnetoencephalography (MEG) in the majority of individuals, which makes visual gamma an attractive candidate for biomarkers of brain disorders associated with E/I imbalance. Little is known, however, about if/how these oscillations reflect individual differences in neural excitability and associated sensory/perceptual phenomena. The power of visual gamma response (GR) changes nonlinearly with increasing stimulation intensity: it increases with transition from static to slowly drifting high-contrast grating and then attenuates with further increase in the drift rate. In a recent MEG study we found that the GR attenuation predicted sensitivity to sensory stimuli in everyday life in neurotypical adult men and in men with autism spectrum disorders. Here, we replicated these results in neurotypical female participants. The GR enhancement with transition from static to slowly drifting grating did not correlate significantly with the sensory sensitivity measures. These findings suggest that weak velocity-related attenuation of the GR is a reliable neural concomitant of visual hypersensitivity and that the degree of GR attenuation may provide useful information about E/I balance in the visual cortex.
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Affiliation(s)
- Viktoriya O Manyukhina
- Center for Neurocognitive Research (MEG Center), Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Moscow, Russian Federation
- National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation
| | - Ekaterina N Rostovtseva
- Center for Neurocognitive Research (MEG Center), Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Moscow, Russian Federation
| | - Andrey O Prokofyev
- Center for Neurocognitive Research (MEG Center), Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Moscow, Russian Federation
| | - Tatiana S Obukhova
- Center for Neurocognitive Research (MEG Center), Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Moscow, Russian Federation
| | - Justin F Schneiderman
- MedTech West and the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Sahlgrenska Academy, The University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Tatiana A Stroganova
- Center for Neurocognitive Research (MEG Center), Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Moscow, Russian Federation
| | - Elena V Orekhova
- Center for Neurocognitive Research (MEG Center), Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Moscow, Russian Federation.
- MedTech West and the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Sahlgrenska Academy, The University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
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Murty DV, Manikandan K, Santosh Kumar W, Garani Ramesh R, Purokayastha S, Javali M, Prahalada Rao N, Ray S. Gamma oscillations weaken with age in healthy elderly in human EEG. Neuroimage 2020. [PMID: 32276055 PMCID: PMC7299665 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.11682] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Gamma rhythms (~20-70 Hz) are abnormal in mental disorders such as autism and schizophrenia in humans, and Alzheimer's disease (AD) models in rodents. However, the effect of normal aging on these oscillations is unknown, especially for elderly subjects in whom AD is most prevalent. In a first large-scale (236 subjects; 104 females) electroencephalogram (EEG) study on gamma oscillations in elderly subjects (aged 50-88 years), we presented full-screen visual Cartesian gratings that induced two distinct gamma oscillations (slow: 20-34 Hz and fast: 36-66 Hz). Power decreased with age for gamma, but not alpha (8-12 Hz). Reduction was more salient for fast gamma than slow. Center frequency also decreased with age for both gamma rhythms. The results were independent of microsaccades, pupillary reactivity to stimulus, and variations in power spectral density with age. Steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) at 32 Hz also reduced with age. These results are crucial for developing gamma/SSVEP-based biomarkers of cognitive decline in elderly.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Simran Purokayastha
- Centre for Neuroscience, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 560012, India
| | - Mahendra Javali
- MS Ramaiah Medical College & Memorial Hospital, Bangalore, 560054, India
| | - Naren Prahalada Rao
- National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, 560029, India
| | - Supratim Ray
- Centre for Neuroscience, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 560012, India,Corresponding author. (S. Ray)
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Murty DV, Manikandan K, Kumar WS, Ramesh RG, Purokayastha S, Javali M, Rao NP, Ray S. Gamma oscillations weaken with age in healthy elderly in human EEG. Neuroimage 2020; 215:116826. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116826] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2019] [Revised: 03/18/2020] [Accepted: 04/01/2020] [Indexed: 10/24/2022] Open
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Orekhova EV, Rostovtseva EN, Manyukhina VO, Prokofiev AO, Obukhova TS, Nikolaeva AY, Schneiderman JF, Stroganova TA. Spatial suppression in visual motion perception is driven by inhibition: Evidence from MEG gamma oscillations. Neuroimage 2020; 213:116753. [PMID: 32194278 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116753] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2019] [Revised: 02/14/2020] [Accepted: 03/14/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Spatial suppression (SS) is a visual perceptual phenomenon that is manifest in a reduction of directional sensitivity for drifting high-contrast gratings whose size exceeds the center of the visual field. Gratings moving at faster velocities induce stronger SS. The neural processes that give rise to such size- and velocity-dependent reductions in directional sensitivity are currently unknown, and the role of surround inhibition is unclear. In magnetoencephalogram (MEG), large high-contrast drifting gratings induce a strong gamma response (GR), which also attenuates with an increase in the gratings' velocity. It has been suggested that the slope of this GR attenuation is mediated by inhibitory interactions in the primary visual cortex. Herein, we investigate whether SS is related to this inhibitory-based MEG measure. We evaluated SS and GR in two independent samples of participants: school-age boys and adult women. The slope of GR attenuation predicted inter-individual differences in SS in both samples. Test-retest reliability of the neuro-behavioral correlation was assessed in the adults, and was high between two sessions separated by several days or weeks. Neither frequencies nor absolute amplitudes of the GRs correlated with SS, which highlights the functional relevance of velocity-related changes in GR magnitude caused by augmentation of incoming input. Our findings provide evidence that links the psychophysical phenomenon of SS to inhibitory-based neural responses in the human primary visual cortex. This supports the role of inhibitory interactions as an important underlying mechanism for spatial suppression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena V Orekhova
- Center for Neurocognitive Research (MEG Center), Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Moscow, Russian Federation; MedTech West and the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Sahlgrenska Academy, The University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
| | - Ekaterina N Rostovtseva
- Center for Neurocognitive Research (MEG Center), Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Moscow, Russian Federation
| | - Viktoriya O Manyukhina
- Center for Neurocognitive Research (MEG Center), Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Moscow, Russian Federation; National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation, Moscow, Russian Federation
| | - Andrey O Prokofiev
- Center for Neurocognitive Research (MEG Center), Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Moscow, Russian Federation
| | - Tatiana S Obukhova
- Center for Neurocognitive Research (MEG Center), Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Moscow, Russian Federation
| | - Anastasia Yu Nikolaeva
- Center for Neurocognitive Research (MEG Center), Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Moscow, Russian Federation
| | - Justin F Schneiderman
- MedTech West and the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Sahlgrenska Academy, The University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Tatiana A Stroganova
- Center for Neurocognitive Research (MEG Center), Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Moscow, Russian Federation
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9
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Neurophysiological basis of contrast dependent BOLD orientation tuning. Neuroimage 2020; 206:116323. [PMID: 31678228 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116323] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2019] [Revised: 10/03/2019] [Accepted: 10/29/2019] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent work in early visual cortex of humans has shown that the BOLD signal exhibits contrast dependent orientation tuning, with an inverse oblique effect (oblique > cardinal) at high contrast and a horizontal effect (vertical > horizontal) at low contrast. This finding is at odds with decades of neurophysiological research demonstrating contrast invariant orientation tuning in primate visual cortex, yet the source of this discrepancy is unclear. We hypothesized that contrast dependent BOLD orientation tuning may arise due to contrast dependent influences of feedforward (FF) and feedback (FB) synaptic activity, indexed through gamma and alpha rhythms, respectively. To quantify this, we acquired EEG and BOLD in healthy humans to generate and compare orientation tuning curves across all neural frequency bands with BOLD. As expected, BOLD orientation selectivity in V1 was contrast dependent, preferring oblique orientations at high contrast and vertical at low contrast. On the other hand, EEG orientation tuning was contrast invariant, though frequency-specific, with an inverse-oblique effect in the gamma band (FF) and a horizontal effect in the alpha band (FB). Therefore, high-contrast BOLD orientation tuning closely matched FF activity, while at low contrast, BOLD best resembled FB orientation tuning. These results suggest that contrast dependent BOLD orientation tuning arises due to the reduced contribution of FF input to overall neurophysiological activity at low contrast, shifting BOLD orientation tuning towards the orientation preferences of FB at low contrast.
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