Time-frequency distribution of neuronal activity in the gerbil inferior colliculus responding to auditory stimuli

Reproducibility of Rolandic beta rhythm modulation in MEG and EEG

The Rolandic beta rhythm, at ∼20 Hz, is generated in the somatosensory and motor cortices and is modulated by motor activity and sensory stimuli, causing a short lasting suppression that is followed by a rebound of the beta rhythm. The rebound reflects inhibitory changes in the primary sensorimotor (SMI) cortex, and thus it has been used as a biomarker to follow the recovery of patients with acute stroke. The longitudinal stability of beta rhythm modulation is a prerequisite for its use in long-term follow-ups. We quantified the reproducibility of beta rhythm modulation in healthy subjects in a 1-year-longitudinal study both for MEG and EEG at T₀, 1 month (T_1-month, n = 8) and 1 year (T_1-year, n = 19). The beta rhythm (13–25 Hz) was modulated by fixed tactile and proprioceptive stimulations of the index fingers. The relative peak strengths of beta suppression and rebound did not differ significantly between the sessions, and intersession reproducibility was good or excellent according to intraclass correlation-coefficient values (0.70–0.96) both in MEG and EEG. Our results indicate that the beta rhythm modulation to tactile and proprioceptive stimulation is well reproducible within 1 year. These results support the use of beta modulation as a biomarker in long-term follow-up studies, e.g., to quantify the functional state of the SMI cortex during rehabilitation and drug interventions in various neurological impairments.

NEW & NOTEWORTHY The present study demonstrates that beta rhythm modulation is highly reproducible in a group of healthy subjects within a year. Hence, it can be reliably used as a biomarker in longitudinal follow-up studies in different neurological patient groups to reflect changes in the functional state of the sensorimotor cortex.

Dynamic response properties of visual neurons and context-dependent surround effects on receptive fields in the tectum of the salamander Plethodon shermani

Neuronal responses to complex prey-like stimuli and rectangles were investigated in the tectum of the salamander Plethodon shermani using extracellular single-cell recording. Cricket dummies differing in size, contrast or movement pattern or a rectangle were moved singly through the excitatory receptive field of a neuron. Paired presentations were performed, in which a reference stimulus was moved inside and the different cricket dummies or the rectangle outside the excitatory receptive field. Visual object recognition involves much more complex spatial and temporal processing than previously assumed in amphibians. This concerns significant changes in absolute number of spikes, temporal discharge pattern, and receptive field size. At single presentation of stimuli, the number of discharges was significantly changed compared with the reference stimulus, and in the majority of neurons the temporal pattern of discharges was changed in addition. At paired presentation of stimuli, neurons mainly revealed a significant decrease in average spike number and a reduction of excitatory receptive field size to presentation of the reference stimulus inside the excitatory receptive field, when a large-sized cricket stimulus or the rectangle was located outside the excitatory receptive field. This inhibition was significantly greater for the large-sized cricket stimulus than for the rectangle, and indicates the biological relevance of the prey-like stimulus in object selection. The response properties of tectal neurons at single or paired presentation of stimuli indicate that tectal neurons integrate information across a much larger part of visual space than covered by the excitatory receptive field. The spike number of a tectal neuron and the spatio-temporal extent of its excitatory receptive field are not fixed but depend on the context, i.e. the stimulus type and combination. This dynamic processing corresponds with the selection of the stimuli in the visual orienting behavior of Plethodon investigated in a previous study, and we assume that tectal processing is modulated by top down processes as well as feedback circuitries.