Sensorimotor Oscillatory Phase-Power Interaction Gates Resting Human Corticospinal Output

Increased visual alpha-band activity during self-paced finger tapping does not affect early visual stimulus processing

Alpha-band activity is thought to be involved in orchestrating neural processing within and across brain regions relevant to various functions such as perception, cognition, and motor activity. Across different studies, attenuated alpha-band activity has been linked to increased neural excitability. Yet, there have been conflicting results concerning the consequences of alpha-band modulations for early sensory processing. We here examined whether movement-related alterations in visual alpha-band activity affected the early sensory processing of visual stimuli. For this purpose, in an EEG experiment, participants were engaged in a voluntary finger-tapping task while passively viewing flickering dots. We found extensive and expected movement-related amplitude modulations of motor alpha- and beta-band activity with event-related-desynchronization (ERD) before and during, and event-related-synchronization (ERS) after single voluntary finger taps. Crucially, while a visual alpha-band ERS accompanied the motor alpha-ERD before and during each finger tap, flicker-evoked Steady-State-Visually-Evoked-Potentials (SSVEPs), as a marker of early visual sensory gain, were not modulated in amplitude. As early sensory stimulus processing was unaffected by amplitude-modulated visual alpha-band activity, this argues against the idea that alpha-band activity represents a mechanism by which early sensory gain modulation is implemented. The distinct neural dynamics of visual alpha-band activity and early sensory processing may point to distinct and multiplexed neural selection processes in visual processing.

Personalized whole-brain activity patterns predict human corticospinal tract activation in real-time

BACKGROUND

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) interventions could feasibly treat stroke-related motor impairments, but their effects are highly variable. Brain state-dependent TMS approaches are a promising solution to this problem, but inter-individual variation in lesion location and oscillatory dynamics can make translating them to the poststroke brain challenging. Personalized brain state-dependent approaches specifically designed to address these challenges are therefore needed.

METHODS

As a first step towards this goal, we tested a novel machine learning-based EEG-TMS system that identifies personalized brain activity patterns reflecting strong and weak corticospinal tract (CST) output (strong and weak CST states) in healthy adults in real-time. Participants completed a single-session study that included the acquisition of a TMS-EEG-EMG training dataset, personalized classifier training, and real-time EEG-informed single pulse TMS during classifier-predicted personalized CST states.

RESULTS

MEP amplitudes elicited in real-time during personalized strong CST states were significantly larger than those elicited during personalized weak and random CST states. MEP amplitudes elicited in real-time during personalized strong CST states were also significantly less variable than those elicited during personalized weak CST states. Personalized CST states lasted for ~1-2 seconds at a time and ~1 second elapsed between consecutive similar states. Individual participants exhibited unique differences in spectro-spatial EEG patterns between personalized strong and weak CST states.

CONCLUSION

Our results show for the first time that personalized whole-brain EEG activity patterns predict CST activation in real-time in healthy humans. These findings represent a pivotal step towards using personalized brain state-dependent TMS interventions to promote poststroke CST function.

Motor sequence learning-induced corticospinal plasticity is biased towards sensorimotor mu rhythm peak phases

Motor cortical (M1) transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) increases corticospinal output and improves motor learning when delivered during sensorimotor mu rhythm trough but not peak phases, suggesting that mechanisms supporting motor learning may be most active during mu trough phases. If so, learning-related corticospinal plasticity should be most evident during mu trough phases. Healthy adults were assigned to either a sequence or control group. Participants in the sequence group practiced the implicit serial reaction time task (SRTT), which contained an embedded, repeating 12-item sequence. Participants in the control group practiced a version of the SRTT that contained no sequence. We measured mu phase-independent and phase-dependent MEP amplitudes using EEG-informed single-pulse TMS before, immediately, and 30 minutes after the SRTT in both groups. All participants performed a retention test one hour after SRTT acquisition. In both groups, mu phase-independent MEP amplitudes increased following SRTT acquisition, but the pattern of mu phase-dependent MEP amplitude increases after SRTT acquisition differed between groups. MEP amplitude changes from baseline to 30 minutes after SRTT acquisition more strongly differed across phases in the control relative to the sequence group, with the control group showing smaller increases in peak- than trough-specific MEPs. Contrary to our original hypothesis, results revealed that sequence learning recruits peak- rather than trough-specific neurophysiological mechanisms. Overall, these findings suggest that mu peak phases may provide protected time windows for motor memory consolidation and demonstrate the presence of a mu phase-dependent motor learning mechanism in the human brain.

Significance statement

Recent work suggests that the neurophysiological mechanisms supporting motor learning may be most active during sensorimotor mu rhythm trough phases. Here, we evaluated this possibility by measuring mu phase-dependent corticospinal plasticity induced by motor sequence learning. Results provide first evidence that motor sequence learning produced corticospinal plasticity that was more pronounced during mu peak than trough phases, demonstrating the presence of a phase-dependent learning mechanism within the human motor system.

EEG decoding with spatiotemporal convolutional neural network for visualization and closed-loop control of sensorimotor activities: A simultaneous EEG-fMRI study

Closed-loop neurofeedback training utilizes neural signals such as scalp electroencephalograms (EEG) to manipulate specific neural activities and the associated behavioral performance. A spatiotemporal filter for high-density whole-head scalp EEG using a convolutional neural network can overcome the ambiguity of the signaling source because each EEG signal includes information on the remote regions. We simultaneously acquired EEG and functional magnetic resonance images in humans during the brain-computer interface (BCI) based neurofeedback training and compared the reconstructed and modeled hemodynamic responses of the sensorimotor network. Filters constructed with a convolutional neural network captured activities in the targeted network with spatial precision and specificity superior to those of the EEG signals preprocessed with standard pipelines used in BCI-based neurofeedback paradigms. The middle layers of the trained model were examined to characterize the neuronal oscillatory features that contributed to the reconstruction. Analysis of the layers for spatial convolution revealed the contribution of distributed cortical circuitries to reconstruction, including the frontoparietal and sensorimotor areas, and those of temporal convolution layers that successfully reconstructed the hemodynamic response function. Employing a spatiotemporal filter and leveraging the electrophysiological signatures of the sensorimotor excitability identified in our middle layer analysis would contribute to the development of a further effective neurofeedback intervention.

A simulation study: comparing independent component analysis and signal-space projection - source-informed reconstruction for rejecting muscle artifacts evoked by transcranial magnetic stimulation

Introduction

The combination of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and electroencephalography (EEG) allows researchers to explore cortico-cortical connections. To study effective connections, the first few tens of milliseconds of the TMS-evoked potentials are the most critical. Yet, TMS-evoked artifacts complicate the interpretation of early-latency data. Data-processing strategies like independent component analysis (ICA) and the combined signal-space projection-source-informed reconstruction approach (SSP-SIR) are designed to mitigate artifacts, but their objective assessment is challenging because the true neuronal EEG responses under large-amplitude artifacts are generally unknown. Through simulations, we quantified how the spatiotemporal properties of the artifacts affect the cleaning performances of ICA and SSP-SIR.

Methods

We simulated TMS-induced muscle artifacts and superposed them on pre-processed TMS-EEG data, serving as the ground truth. The simulated muscle artifacts were varied both in terms of their topography and temporal profiles. The signals were then cleaned using ICA and SSP-SIR, and subsequent comparisons were made with the ground truth data.

Results

ICA performed better when the artifact time courses were highly variable across the trials, whereas the effectiveness of SSP-SIR depended on the congruence between the artifact and neuronal topographies, with the performance of SSP-SIR being better when difference between topographies was larger. Overall, SSP-SIR performed better than ICA across the tested conditions. Based on these simulations, SSP-SIR appears to be more effective in suppressing TMS-evoked muscle artifacts. These artifacts are shown to be highly time-locked to the TMS pulse and manifest in topographies that differ substantially from the patterns of neuronal potentials.

Discussion

Selecting between ICA and SSP-SIR should be guided by the characteristics of the artifacts. SSP-SIR might be better equipped for suppressing time-locked artifacts, provided that their topographies are sufficiently different from the neuronal potential patterns of interest, and that the SSP-SIR algorithm can successfully find those artifact topographies from the high-pass-filtered data. ICA remains a powerful tool for rejecting artifacts that are not strongly time locked to the TMS pulse.

Predicting interindividual response to theta burst stimulation in the lower limb motor cortex using machine learning

Using theta burst stimulation (TBS) to induce neural plasticity has played an important role in improving the treatment of neurological disorders. However, the variability of TBS-induced synaptic plasticity in the primary motor cortex prevents its clinical application. Thus, factors associated with this variability should be explored to enable the creation of a predictive model. Statistical approaches, such as regression analysis, have been used to predict the effects of TBS. Machine learning may potentially uncover previously unexplored predictive factors due to its increased capacity for capturing nonlinear changes. In this study, we used our prior dataset (Katagiri et al., 2020) to determine the factors that predict variability in TBS-induced synaptic plasticity in the lower limb motor cortex for both intermittent (iTBS) and continuous (cTBS) TBS using machine learning. Validation of the created model showed an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.85 and 0.69 and positive predictive values of 77.7 and 70.0% for iTBS and cTBS, respectively; the negative predictive value was 75.5% for both patterns. Additionally, the accuracy was 0.76 and 0.72, precision was 0.82 and 0.67, recall was 0.82 and 0.67, and F1 scores were 0.82 and 0.67 for iTBS and cTBS, respectively. The most important predictor of iTBS was the motor evoked potential amplitude, whereas it was the intracortical facilitation for cTBS. Our results provide additional insights into the prediction of the effects of TBS variability according to baseline neurophysiological factors.

Closed-Loop Brain Stimulation

In the same way that beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, what a stimulus does to the brain is determined not simply by the nature of the stimulus but by the nature of the brain that is receiving the stimulus at that instant in time. Over the past decades, therapeutic brain stimulation has typically applied open-loop fixed protocols and has largely ignored this principle. Only recent neurotechnological advancements have enabled us to predict the nature of the brain (i.e., the electrophysiological brain state in the next instance in time) with sufficient temporal precision in the range of milliseconds using feedforward algorithms applied to electroencephalography time-series data. This allows stimulation exclusively whenever the targeted brain area is in a prespecified excitability or connectivity state. Preclinical studies have shown that repetitive stimulation during a particular brain state (e.g., high-excitability state), but not during other states, results in lasting modification (e.g., long-term potentiation) of the stimulated circuits. Here, we survey the evidence that this is also possible at the systems level of the human cortex using electroencephalography-informed transcranial magnetic stimulation. We critically discuss opportunities and difficulties in developing brain state-dependent stimulation for more effective long-term modification of pathological brain networks (e.g., in major depressive disorder) than is achievable with conventional fixed protocols. The same real-time electroencephalography-informed transcranial magnetic stimulation technology will allow closing of the loop by recording the effects of stimulation. This information may enable stimulation protocol adaptation that maximizes treatment response. This way, brain states control brain stimulation, thereby introducing a paradigm shift from open-loop to closed-loop stimulation.

Electroencephalography oscillations can predict the cortical response following theta burst stimulation

BACKGROUND

Continuous theta burst stimulation and intermittent theta burst stimulation are clinically popular models of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation. However, they are limited by high variability between individuals in cortical excitability changes following stimulation. Although electroencephalography oscillations have been reported to modulate the cortical response to transcranial magnetic stimulation, their association remains unclear. This study aims to explore whether machine learning models based on EEG oscillation features can predict the cortical response to transcranial magnetic stimulation.

METHOD

Twenty-three young, healthy adults attended two randomly assigned sessions for continuous and intermittent theta burst stimulation. In each session, ten minutes of resting-state electroencephalography were recorded before delivering brain stimulation. Participants were classified as responders or non-responders based on changes in resting motor thresholds. Support vector machines and multi-layer perceptrons were used to establish predictive models of individual responses to transcranial magnetic stimulation.

RESULT

Among the evaluated algorithms, support vector machines achieved the best performance in discriminating responders from non-responders for intermittent theta burst stimulation (accuracy: 91.30%) and continuous theta burst stimulation (accuracy: 95.66%). The global clustering coefficient and global characteristic path length in the beta band had the greatest impact on model output.

CONCLUSION

These findings suggest that EEG features can serve as markers of cortical response to transcranial magnetic stimulation. They offer insights into the association between neural oscillations and variability in individuals' responses to transcranial magnetic stimulation, aiding in the optimization of individualized protocols.

MEP and TEP features variability: is it just the brain-state?

Objective.The literature investigating the effects of alpha oscillations on corticospinal excitability is divergent. We believe inconsistency in the findings may arise, among others, from the electroencephalography (EEG) processing for brain-state determination. Here, we provide further insights in the effects of the brain-state on cortical and corticospinal excitability and quantify the impact of different EEG processing.Approach.Corticospinal excitability was measured using motor evoked potential (MEP) peak-to-peak amplitudes elicited with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS); cortical responses were studied through TMS-evoked potentials' TEPs features. A TMS-EEG-electromyography (EMG) dataset of 18 young healthy subjects who received 180 single-pulse (SP) and 180 paired pulses (PP) to determine short-intracortical inhibition (SICI) was investigated. To study the effect of different EEG processing, we compared the brain-state estimation deriving from three published methods. The influence of presence of neural oscillations was also investigated. To evaluate the effect of the brain-state on MEP and TEP features variability, we defined the brain-state based on specific EEG phase and power combinations, only in trials where neural oscillations were present. The relationship between TEPs and MEPs was further evaluated.Main results.The presence of neural oscillations resulted in more consistent results regardless of the EEG processing approach. Nonetheless, the latter still critically affected the outcomes, making conclusive claims complex. With our approach, the MEP amplitude was positively modulated by the alpha power and phase, with stronger responses during the trough phase and high power. Power and phase also affected TEP features. Importantly, similar effects were observed in both TMS conditions.Significance.These findings support the view that the brain state of alpha oscillations is associated with the variability observed in cortical and corticospinal responses to TMS, with a tight correlation between the two. The results further highlight the importance of closed-loop stimulation approaches while underlining that care is needed in designing experiments and choosing the analytical approaches, which should be based on knowledge from offline studies to control for the heterogeneity originating from different EEG processing strategies.

Targeting motor cortex high-excitability states defined by functional connectivity with real-time EEG-TMS

We tested previous post-hoc findings indicating a relationship between functional connectivity (FC) in the motor network and corticospinal excitability (CsE), in a real-time EEG-TMS experiment in healthy participants. We hypothesized that high FC between left and right motor cortex predicts high CsE. FC was quantified in real-time by single-trial phase-locking value (stPLV), and TMS single pulses were delivered based on the current FC. CsE was indexed by motor-evoked potential (MEP) amplitude in a hand muscle. Possible confounding factors (pre-stimulus μ-power and phase, interstimulus interval) were evaluated post hoc. MEPs were significantly larger during high FC compared to low FC. Post hoc analysis revealed that the FC condition showed a significant interaction with μ-power in the stimulated hemisphere. Further, inter-stimulus interval (ISI) interacted with high vs. low FC conditions. In summary, FC was confirmed to be predictive of CsE, but should not be considered in isolation from μ-power and ISI. Moreover, FC was complementary to μ-phase in predicting CsE. Motor network FC is another marker of real-time accessible CsE beyond previously established markers, in particular phase and power of the μ rhythm, and may help define a more robust composite biomarker of high/low excitability states of human motor cortex.

Reliability of resting-state EEG modulation by continuous and intermittent theta burst stimulation of the primary motor cortex: a sham-controlled study

Theta burst stimulation (TBS) is a form of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation designed to induce changes of cortical excitability that outlast the period of TBS application. In this study, we explored the effects of continuous TBS (cTBS) and intermittent TBS (iTBS) versus sham TBS stimulation, applied to the left primary motor cortex, on modulation of resting state electroencephalography (rsEEG) power. We first conducted hypothesis-driven region-of-interest (ROI) analyses examining changes in alpha (8-12 Hz) and beta (13-21 Hz) bands over the left and right motor cortex. Additionally, we performed data-driven whole-brain analyses across a wide range of frequencies (1-50 Hz) and all electrodes. Finally, we assessed the reliability of TBS effects across two sessions approximately 1 month apart. None of the protocols produced significant group-level effects in the ROI. Whole-brain analysis revealed that cTBS significantly enhanced relative power between 19 and 43 Hz over multiple sites in both hemispheres. However, these results were not reliable across visits. There were no significant differences between EEG modulation by active and sham TBS protocols. Between-visit reliability of TBS-induced neuromodulatory effects was generally low-to-moderate. We discuss confounding factors and potential approaches for improving the reliability of TBS-induced rsEEG modulation.

TMS of parietal and occipital cortex locked to spontaneous transient large-scale brain states enhances natural oscillations in EEG

BACKGROUND

Fluctuating neuronal network states influence brain responses to transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Our previous studies revealed that transient spontaneous bihemispheric brain states in the EEG, driven by oscillatory power, information flow and regional domination, modify cortical EEG responses to TMS. However, the impact of ongoing fluctuations of large-scale brain network states on TMS-EEG responses has not been explored.

OBJECTIVES

To determine the effects of large-scale brain network states on TMS-EEG responses.

METHODS

Resting-state EEG and structural MRI from 24 healthy subjects were recorded to infer large-scale brain states. TMS-EEG was acquired with TMS at state-related targets, identified by the spatial distribution of state activation power from resting-state EEG. TMS-induced oscillations were measured by event-related spectral perturbations (ERSPs), and classified with respect to the brain states preceding the TMS pulses. State-locked ERSPs with TMS at specific state-related targets and during state activation were compared with state-unlocked ERSPs.

RESULTS

Intra-individual comparison of ERSPs by threshold free cluster enhancement (TFCE) revealed that posterior and visual state-locked TMS, respectively, increased beta and alpha responses to TMS of parietal and occipital cortex compared to state-unlocked TMS. Also, the peak frequencies of ERSPs were increased with state-locked TMS. In addition, inter-individual correlation analyses revealed that posterior and visual state-locked TMS-induced oscillation power (ERSP clusters identified by TFCE) positively correlated with state-dependent oscillation power preceding TMS.

CONCLUSIONS

Spontaneous transient large-scale brain network states modify TMS-induced natural oscillations in specific brain regions. This significantly extends our knowledge on the critical importance of instantaneous state on explaining the brain's varying responsiveness to external perturbation.

Repetitive sensorimotor mu-alpha phase-targeted afferent stimulation produces no phase-dependent plasticity related changes in somatosensory evoked potentials or sensory thresholds

Phase-dependent plasticity has been proposed as a neurobiological mechanism by which oscillatory phase-amplitude cross-frequency coupling mediates memory process in the brain. Mimicking this mechanism, real-time EEG oscillatory phase-triggered transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has successfully induced LTP-like changes in corticospinal excitability in the human motor cortex. Here we asked whether EEG phase-triggered afferent stimulation alone, if repetitively applied to the peaks, troughs, or random phases of the sensorimotor mu-alpha rhythm, would be sufficient to modulate the strength of thalamocortical synapses as assessed by changes in somatosensory evoked potential (SEP) N20 and P25 amplitudes and sensory thresholds (ST). Specifically, we applied 100 Hz triplets of peripheral electrical stimulation (PES) to the thumb, middle, and little finger of the right hand in pseudorandomized trials, with the afferent input from each finger repetitively and consistently arriving either during the cortical mu-alpha trough or peak or at random phases. No significant changes in SEP amplitudes or ST were observed across the phase-dependent PES intervention. We discuss potential limitations of the study and argue that suboptimal stimulation parameter choices rather than a general lack of phase-dependent plasticity in thalamocortical synapses are responsible for this null finding. Future studies should further explore the possibility of phase-dependent sensory stimulation.

Train duration and inter-train interval determine the direction and intensity of high-frequency rTMS after-effects

Background and objective

It has been proved that repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) triggers the modulation of homeostatic metaplasticity, which causes the effect of rTMS to disappear or even reverse, and a certain length of interval between rTMS trains might break the modulation of homeostatic metaplasticity. However, it remains unknown whether the effects of high-frequency rTMS can be modulated by homeostatic metaplasticity by lengthening the train duration and whether homeostatic metaplasticity can be broken by prolonging the inter-train interval.

Methods

In this study, 15 subjects participated in two experiments including different rTMS protocols targeting the motor cortex. In the first experiment, high-frequency rTMS protocols with different train durations (2 s and 5 s) and an inter-train interval of 25 s were adopted. In the second experiment, high-frequency rTMS protocols with a train duration of 5 s and different inter-train intervals (50 s and 100 s) were adopted. A sham protocol was also included. Changes of motor evoked potential amplitude acquired from electromyography, power spectral density, and intra-region and inter-region functional connectivity acquired from electroencephalography in the resting state before and after each rTMS protocol were evaluated.

Results

High-frequency rTMS with 2 s train duration and 25 s inter-train interval increased cortex excitability and the power spectral density of bilateral central regions in the alpha frequency band and enhanced the functional connectivity between central regions and other brain regions. When the train duration was prolonged to 5 s, the after-effects of high-frequency rTMS disappeared. The after-effects of rTMS with 5 s train duration and 100 s inter-train interval were the same as those of rTMS with 2 s train duration and 25 s inter-train interval.

Conclusion

Our results indicated that train duration and inter-train interval could induce the homeostatic metaplasticiy and determine the direction of intensity of rTMS after-effects, and should certainly be taken into account when performing rTMS in both research and clinical practice.

Reliability of resting-state EEG modulation by continuous and intermittent theta burst stimulation of the primary motor cortex: A sham-controlled study

Theta burst stimulation (TBS) is a form of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation designed to induce changes of cortical excitability that outlast the period of TBS application. In this study, we explored the effects of continuous TBS (cTBS) and intermittent TBS (iTBS) versus sham TBS stimulation, applied to the primary motor cortex, on modulation of resting state electroencephalography (rsEEG) power. We first conducted hypothesis-driven region-of-interest (ROI) analyses examining changes in alpha (8-12 Hz) and beta (13-21 Hz) bands over the left and right motor cortex. Additionally, we performed data-driven whole-brain analyses across a wide range of frequencies (1-50 Hz) and all electrodes. Finally, we assessed the reliability of TBS effects across two sessions approximately 1 month apart. None of the protocols produced significant group-level effects in the ROI. Whole-brain analysis revealed that cTBS significantly enhanced relative power between 19-43 Hz over multiple sites in both hemispheres. However, these results were not reliable across visits. There were no significant differences between EEG modulation by active and sham TBS protocols. Between-visit reliability of TBS-induced neuromodulatory effects was generally low-to-moderate. We discuss confounding factors and potential approaches for improving the reliability of TBS-induced rsEEG modulation.

Pre-Stimulus Power but Not Phase Predicts Prefrontal Cortical Excitability in TMS-EEG

The cortical response to transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has notable inter-trial variability. One source of this variability can be the influence of the phase and power of pre-stimulus neuronal oscillations on single-trial TMS responses. Here, we investigate the effect of brain oscillatory activity on TMS response in 49 distinct healthy participants (64 datasets) who had received single-pulse TMS over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Across all frequency bands of theta (4-7 Hz), alpha (8-13 Hz), and beta (14-30 Hz), there was no significant effect of pre-TMS phase on single-trial cortical evoked activity. After high-powered oscillations, whether followed by a TMS pulse or not, the subsequent activity was larger than after low-powered oscillations. We further defined a measure, corrected_effect, to enable us to investigate brain responses to the TMS pulse disentangled from the power of ongoing (spontaneous) oscillations. The corrected_effect was significantly different from zero (meaningful added effect of TMS) only in theta and beta bands. Our results suggest that brain state prior to stimulation might play some role in shaping the subsequent TMS-EEG response. Specifically, our findings indicate that the power of ongoing oscillatory activity, but not phase, can influence brain responses to TMS. Aligning the TMS pulse with specific power thresholds of an EEG signal might therefore reduce variability in neurophysiological measurements and also has the potential to facilitate more robust therapeutic effects of stimulation.

Corticospinal excitability is highest at the early rising phase of sensorimotor µ-rhythm

Alpha oscillations are thought to reflect alternating cortical states of excitation and inhibition. Studies of perceptual thresholds and evoked potentials have shown the scalp EEG negative phase of the oscillation to correspond to a short-lasting low-threshold and high-excitability state of underlying visual, somatosensory, and primary motor cortex. The negative peak of the oscillation is assumed to correspond to the state of highest excitability based on biophysical considerations and considerable effort has been made to improve the extraction of a predictive signal by individually optimizing EEG montages. Here, we investigate whether it is the negative peak of sensorimotor µ-rhythm that corresponds to the highest corticospinal excitability, and whether this is consistent between individuals. In 52 adult participants, a standard 5-channel surface Laplacian EEG montage was used to extract sensorimotor µ-rhythm during transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of primary motor cortex. Post-hoc trials were sorted from 800 TMS-evoked motor potentials (MEPs) according to the pre-stimulus EEG (estimated instantaneous phase) and MEP amplitude (as an index of corticospinal excitability). Different preprocessing transformations designed to improve the accuracy by which µ-alpha phase predicts excitability were also tested. By fitting a sinusoid to the MEP amplitudes, sorted according to pre-stimulus EEG-phase, we found that excitability was highest during the early rising phase, at a significant delay with respect to the negative peak by on average 45° or 10 ms. The individual phase of highest excitability was consistent across study participants and unaffected by two different EEG-cleaning methods that utilize 64 channels to improve signal quality by compensating for individual noise level and channel covariance. Personalized transformations of the montage did not yield better prediction of excitability from µ-alpha phase. The relationship between instantaneous phase of a brain oscillation and fluctuating cortical excitability appears to be more complex than previously hypothesized. In TMS of motor cortex, a standard surface Laplacian 5-channel EEG montage is effective in extracting a predictive signal and the phase corresponding to the highest excitability appears to be consistent between individuals. This is an encouraging result with respect to the clinical potential of therapeutic personalized brain interventions in the motor system. However, it remains to be investigated, whether similar results can be obtained for other brain areas and brain oscillations targeted with EEG and TMS.

Beta rhythmicity in human motor cortex reflects neural population coupling that modulates subsequent finger coordination stability

Human behavior is not performed completely as desired, but is influenced by the inherent rhythmicity of the brain. Here we show that anti-phase bimanual coordination stability is regulated by the dynamics of pre-movement neural oscillations in bi-hemispheric primary motor cortices (M1) and supplementary motor area (SMA). In experiment 1, pre-movement bi-hemispheric M1 phase synchrony in beta-band (M1-M1 phase synchrony) was online estimated from 129-channel scalp electroencephalograms. Anti-phase bimanual tapping preceded by lower M1-M1 phase synchrony exhibited significantly longer duration than tapping preceded by higher M1-M1 phase synchrony. Further, the inter-individual variability of duration was explained by the interaction of pre-movement activities within the motor network; lower M1-M1 phase synchrony and spectral power at SMA were associated with longer duration. The necessity of cortical interaction for anti-phase maintenance was revealed by sham-controlled repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation over SMA in another experiment. Our results demonstrate that pre-movement cortical oscillatory coupling within the motor network unknowingly influences bimanual coordination performance in humans after consolidation, suggesting the feasibility of augmenting human motor ability by covertly monitoring preparatory neural dynamics.

Phase matters when there is power: Phasic modulation of corticospinal excitability occurs at high amplitude sensorimotor mu-oscillations

Prior studies have suggested that oscillatory activity in cortical networks can modulate stimulus-evoked responses through time-varying fluctuations in neural excitation-inhibition dynamics. Studies combining transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) with electromyography (EMG) and electroencephalography (EEG) can provide direct measurements to examine how instantaneous fluctuations in cortical oscillations contribute to variability in TMS-induced corticospinal responses. However, the results of these studies have been conflicting, as some reports showed consistent phase effects of sensorimotor mu-rhythms with increased excitability at the negative mu peaks, while others failed to replicate these findings or reported unspecific mu-phase effects across subjects. Given the lack of consistent results, we systematically examined the modulatory effects of instantaneous and pre-stimulus sensorimotor mu-rhythms on corticospinal responses with offline EEG-based motor evoked potential (MEP) classification analyses across five identical visits. Instantaneous sensorimotor mu-phase or pre-stimulus mu-power alone did not significantly modulate MEP responses. Instantaneous mu-power analyses showed weak effects with larger MEPs during high-power trials at the overall group level analyses, but this trend was not reproducible across visits. However, TMS delivered at the negative peak of high magnitude mu-oscillations generated the largest MEPs across all visits, with significant differences compared to other peak-phase combinations. High power effects on MEPs were only observed at the trough phase of ongoing mu oscillations originating from the stimulated region, indicating site and phase specificity, respectively. More importantly, such phase-dependent power effects on corticospinal excitability were reproducible across multiple visits. We provide further evidence that fluctuations in corticospinal excitability indexed by MEP amplitudes are partially driven by dynamic interactions between the magnitude and the phase of ongoing sensorimotor mu oscillations at the time of TMS, and suggest promising insights for (re)designing neuromodulatory TMS protocols targeted to specific cortical oscillatory states.

The phase of sensorimotor mu and beta oscillations has the opposite effect on corticospinal excitability

BACKGROUND

Neural oscillations in the primary motor cortex (M1) shape corticospinal excitability. Power and phase of ongoing mu (8-13 Hz) and beta (14-30 Hz) activity may mediate motor cortical output. However, the functional dynamics of both mu and beta phase and power relationships and their interaction, are largely unknown.

OBJECTIVE

Here, we employ recently developed real-time targeting of the mu and beta rhythm, to apply phase-specific brain stimulation and probe motor corticospinal excitability non-invasively. For this, we used instantaneous read-out and analysis of ongoing oscillations, targeting four different phases (0°, 90°, 180°, and 270°) of mu and beta rhythms with suprathreshold single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to M1. Ensuing motor evoked potentials (MEPs) in the right first dorsal interossei muscle were recorded. Twenty healthy adults took part in this double-blind randomized crossover study.

RESULTS

Mixed model regression analyses showed significant phase-dependent modulation of corticospinal output by both mu and beta rhythm. Strikingly, these modulations exhibit a double dissociation. MEPs are larger at the mu trough and rising phase and smaller at the peak and falling phase. For the beta rhythm we found the opposite behavior. Also, mu power, but not beta power, was positively correlated with corticospinal output. Power and phase effects did not interact for either rhythm, suggesting independence between these aspects of oscillations.

CONCLUSION

Our results provide insights into real-time motor cortical oscillation dynamics, which offers the opportunity to improve the effectiveness of TMS by specifically targeting different frequency bands.

Voluntary Motor Command Release Coincides with Restricted Sensorimotor Beta Rhythm Phases

Sensory perception and memory are enhanced during restricted phases of ongoing brain rhythms, but whether voluntary movement is constrained by brain rhythm phase is not known. Voluntary movement requires motor commands to be released from motor cortex (M1) and transmitted to spinal motoneurons and effector muscles. Here, we tested the hypothesis that motor commands are preferentially released from M1 during circumscribed phases of ongoing sensorimotor rhythms. Healthy humans of both sexes performed a self-paced finger movement task during electroencephalography (EEG) and electromyography (EMG) recordings. We first estimated the time of motor command release preceding each finger movement by subtracting individually measured corticomuscular transmission latencies from EMG-determined movement onset times. Then, we determined the phase of ipsilateral and contralateral sensorimotor mu (8-12 Hz) and beta (13-35 Hz) rhythms during release of each motor command. We report that motor commands were most often released between 120 and 140° along the contralateral beta cycle but were released uniformly along the contralateral mu cycle. Motor commands were also released uniformly along ipsilateral mu and beta cycles. Results demonstrate that motor command release coincides with restricted phases of the contralateral sensorimotor beta rhythm, suggesting that sensorimotor beta rhythm phase may sculpt the timing of voluntary human movement.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Perceptual and cognitive function is optimal during specific brain rhythm phases. Although brain rhythm phase influences motor cortical neuronal activity and communication between the motor cortex and spinal cord, its role in voluntary movement is poorly understood. Here, we show that the motor commands needed to produce voluntary movements are preferentially released from the motor cortex during contralateral sensorimotor beta rhythm phases. Our findings are consistent with the notion that sensorimotor rhythm phase influences the timing of voluntary human movement.

Local brain-state dependency of effective connectivity: a pilot TMS-EEG study

Background: Spontaneous cortical oscillations have been shown to modulate cortical responses to transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). However, whether these oscillations influence cortical effective connectivity is largely unknown. We conducted a pilot study to set the basis for addressing how spontaneous oscillations affect cortical effective connectivity measured through TMS-evoked potentials (TEPs). Methods: We applied TMS to the left primary motor cortex and right pre-supplementary motor area of three subjects while recording EEG. We classified trials off-line into positive- and negative-phase classes according to the mu and beta rhythms. We calculated differences in the global mean-field amplitude (GMFA) and compared the cortical spreading of the TMS-evoked activity between the two classes. Results: Phase affected the GMFA in four out of 12 datasets (3 subjects × 2 stimulation sites × 2 frequency bands). Two of the observed significant intervals were before 50 ms, two between 50 and 100 ms, and one after 100 ms post-stimulus. Source estimates showed complex spatial differences between the classes in the cortical spreading of the TMS-evoked activity. Conclusions: TMS-evoked effective connectivity seems to depend on the phase of local cortical oscillations at the stimulated site. This work paves the way to design future closed-loop stimulation paradigms.

Spatially bivariate EEG-neurofeedback can manipulate interhemispheric inhibition

Human behavior requires inter-regional crosstalk to employ the sensorimotor processes in the brain. Although external neuromodulation techniques have been used to manipulate interhemispheric sensorimotor activity, a central controversy concerns whether this activity can be volitionally controlled. Experimental tools lack the power to up- or down-regulate the state of the targeted hemisphere over a large dynamic range and, therefore, cannot evaluate the possible volitional control of the activity. We addressed this difficulty by using the recently developed method of spatially bivariate electroencephalography (EEG)-neurofeedback to systematically enable the participants to modulate their bilateral sensorimotor activities. Here, we report that participants learn to up- and down-regulate the ipsilateral excitability to the imagined hand while maintaining constant contralateral excitability; this modulates the magnitude of interhemispheric inhibition (IHI) assessed by the paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) paradigm. Further physiological analyses revealed that the manipulation capability of IHI magnitude reflected interhemispheric connectivity in EEG and TMS, which was accompanied by intrinsic bilateral cortical oscillatory activities. Our results show an interesting approach for neuromodulation, which might identify new treatment opportunities, e.g., in patients suffering from a stroke.

Reward-dependent Graded Suppression of Sensorimotor Beta-band Local Field Potentials During an Arm Reaching Task in NHP

A better understanding of reward signaling in the sensorimotor cortices can aid in developing Reinforcement Learning-based Brain-Computer Interfaces (RLBCI) for restoration of movement functions with fewer implants. Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) using local field potentials (LFPs) have recently achieved performance comparable to spike-BCIs [1]. With superior stability over time, LFPs may be the preferred signal for BCIs. We show that sensorimotor LFPs can provide reward level information (R1 - R3) like spikes[2]. We used a cued reward-level reaching task in which reward information was temporally dissociated from movement information. This allowed the study of reward- and movement-related modulations in LFPs. We recorded simultaneously from contralateral primary -somatosensory (S1), -motor (M1), and the dorsal premotor (PMd) cortices in a female Macaca Mulatta. We found that all three cortices' average beta band (14-30 Hz) amplitude showed robust modulation with reward levels during the cue presentation period. Such modulation was consistently observed after controlling for cue color, differences in behavioral variables, and electromyogram (EMG) activity. Statistical amplitude analysis showed that reward level could be extracted from the simple LFP feature of beta band amplitude, even before a reaching target appeared, and no specific reach plan could be developed. Clinical Relevance - The availability of reward-related signals in the sensorimotor cortical (S1, M1,and PMd) LFPs' prior to movement planning opens new avenues to build RLBCIs with fewer implants recording fewer sites among different cortices Reward and motivational representations derived from LFPs compared to spikes allow the development of long-term clinical applications given LFP's stability and ease of recording over long periods.

Relationship between high-frequency activity in the cortical sensory and the motor hand areas, and their myelin content

BACKGROUND

The human primary sensory (S1) and primary motor (M1) hand areas feature high-frequency neuronal responses. Electrical nerve stimulation evokes high-frequency oscillations (HFO) at around 650 Hz in the contralateral S1. Likewise, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of M1 can evoke a series of descending volleys in the corticospinal pathway that can be detected non-invasively with a paired-pulse TMS protocol, called short interval intracortical facilitation (SICF). SICF features several peaks of facilitation of motor evoked potentials in contralateral hand muscles, which are separated by inter-peak intervals resembling HFO rhythmicity.

HYPOTHESIS

In this study, we tested the hypothesis that the individual expressions of HFO and SICF are tightly related to each other and to the regional myelin content in the sensorimotor cortex.

METHODS

In 24 healthy volunteers, we recorded HFO and SICF, and, in a subgroup of 20 participants, we mapped the cortical myelin content using the ratio between the T1- and T2-weighted MRI signal as read-out.

RESULTS

The individual frequencies and magnitudes of HFO and SICF curves were tightly correlated: the intervals between the first and second peak of cortical HFO and SICF showed a positive linear relationship (r = 0.703, p < 0.001), while their amplitudes were inversely related (r = -0.613, p = 0.001). The rhythmicity, but not the magnitude of the high-frequency responses, was related to the cortical myelin content: the higher the cortical myelin content, the shorter the inter-peak intervals of HFO and SICF.

CONCLUSION

The results confirm a tight functional relationship between high-frequency responses in S1 (i.e., HFO) and M1 (i.e., as measured with SICF). They also establish a link between the degree of regional cortical myelination and the expression of high-frequency responses in the human sensorimotor cortex, giving further the opportunity to infer their generators.

Decoding personalized motor cortical excitability states from human electroencephalography

Brain state-dependent transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) requires real-time identification of cortical excitability states. Current approaches deliver TMS during brain states that correlate with motor cortex (M1) excitability at the group level. Here, we hypothesized that machine learning classifiers could successfully discriminate between high and low M1 excitability states in individual participants using information obtained from low-density electroencephalography (EEG) signals. To test this, we analyzed a publicly available dataset that delivered 600 single TMS pulses to the right M1 during EEG and electromyography (EMG) recordings in 20 healthy adults. Multivariate pattern classification was used to discriminate between brain states during which TMS evoked small and large motor-evoked potentials (MEPs). Results show that personalized classifiers successfully discriminated between low and high M1 excitability states in 80% of tested participants. MEPs elicited during classifier-predicted high excitability states were significantly larger than those elicited during classifier-predicted low excitability states in 90% of tested participants. Personalized classifiers did not generalize across participants. Overall, results show that individual participants exhibit unique brain activity patterns which predict low and high M1 excitability states and that these patterns can be efficiently captured using low-density EEG signals. Our findings suggest that deploying individualized classifiers during brain state-dependent TMS may enable fully personalized neuromodulation in the future.

An Automatized Method to Determine Latencies of Motor-Evoked Potentials under physiological and pathophysiological conditions

BACKGROUND

Latencies of motor evoked potentials (MEP) can provide insights into the motor neuronal pathways activated by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Notwithstanding its clinical relevance, accurate, unbiased methods to automatize latency detection are still missing.

OBJECTIVE

We present a novel open-source algorithm suitable for MEP onset/latency detection during resting state that only requires the post-stimulus electromyography signal and exploits the approximation of the first derivative of this signal to find the time point of initial deflection of the MEP.

METHODS

The algorithm has been benchmarked, using intra-class coefficient (ICC) and effect sizes, to manual detection of latencies done by three researchers independently on a dataset comprising almost 6500 MEP trials from healthy participants (n=18) and stroke patients (n=31) acquired during rest. The performance was further compared to currently available automatized methods, some of which created for active contraction protocols.

RESULTS

The unstandardized effect size between the human raters and the present method is smaller than the sampling period for both healthy and pathological MEPs. Moreover, the ICC increases when the algorithm is added as a rater.

CONCLUSION

The present algorithm is comparable to human expert decision and outperforms currently available methods. It provides a promising method for automated MEP latency detection under physiological and pathophysiological conditions.

Neural oscillations track recovery of consciousness in acute traumatic brain injury patients

Electroencephalography (EEG), easily deployed at the bedside, is an attractive modality for deriving quantitative biomarkers of prognosis and differential diagnosis in severe brain injury and disorders of consciousness (DOC). Prior work by Schiff has identified four dynamic regimes of progressive recovery of consciousness defined by the presence or absence of thalamically‐driven EEG oscillations. These four predefined categories (ABCD model) relate, on a theoretical level, to thalamocortical integrity and, on an empirical level, to behavioral outcome in patients with cardiac arrest coma etiologies. However, whether this theory‐based stratification of patients might be useful as a diagnostic biomarker in DOC and measurably linked to thalamocortical dysfunction remains unknown. In this work, we relate the reemergence of thalamically‐driven EEG oscillations to behavioral recovery from traumatic brain injury (TBI) in a cohort of N = 38 acute patients with moderate‐to‐severe TBI and an average of 1 week of EEG recorded per patient. We analyzed an average of 3.4 hr of EEG per patient, sampled to coincide with 30‐min periods of maximal behavioral arousal. Our work tests and supports the ABCD model, showing that it outperforms a data‐driven clustering approach and may perform equally well compared to a more parsimonious categorization. Additionally, in a subset of patients (N = 11), we correlated EEG findings with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) connectivity between nodes in the mesocircuit—which has been theoretically implicated by Schiff in DOC—and report a trend‐level relationship that warrants further investigation in larger studies.

Bridging the gap: TMS-EEG from Lab to Clinic

The combination of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and electroencephalography (EEG) has reached technological maturity and has been an object of significant scientific interest for over two decades. Ιn parallel, accumulating evidence highlights the potential of TMS-EEG as a useful tool in the field of clinical neurosciences. Nevertheless, its clinical utility has not yet been established, partly because technical and methodological limitations have created a gap between an evolving scientific tool and standard clinical practice. Here we review some of the identified gaps that still prevent TMS-EEG moving from science laboratories to clinical practice. The principal and partly overlapping gaps include: 1) complex and laborious application, 2) difficulty in obtaining high-quality signals, 3) suboptimal accuracy and reliability, and 4) insufficient understanding of the neurobiological substrate of the responses. All these four aspects need to be satisfactorily addressed for the method to become clinically applicable and enter the diagnostic and therapeutic arena. In the current review, we identify steps that might be taken to address these issues and discuss promising recent studies providing tools to aid bridging the gaps.

α Phase-Amplitude Tradeoffs Predict Visual Perception

Spontaneous α oscillations (∼10 Hz) have been associated with various cognitive functions, including perception. Their phase and amplitude independently predict cortical excitability and subsequent perceptual performance. However, the causal role of α phase-amplitude tradeoffs on visual perception remains ill-defined. We aimed to fill this gap and tested two clear predictions from the pulsed inhibition theory according to which α oscillations are associated with periodic functional inhibition. (1) High-α amplitude induces cortical inhibition at specific phases, associated with low perceptual performance, while at opposite phases, inhibition decreases (potentially increasing excitation) and perceptual performance increases. (2) Low-α amplitude is less susceptible to these phasic (periodic) pulses of inhibition, leading to overall higher perceptual performance. Here, cortical excitability was assessed in humans using phosphene (illusory) perception induced by single pulses of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) applied over visual cortex at perceptual threshold, and its postpulse evoked activity recorded with simultaneous electroencephalography (EEG). We observed that prepulse α phase modulates the probability to perceive a phosphene, predominantly for high-α amplitude, with a nonoptimal phase for phosphene perception between -π/2 and -π/4. The prepulse nonoptimal phase further leads to an increase in postpulse-evoked activity [event-related potential (ERP)], in phosphene-perceived trials specifically. Together, these results show that α oscillations create periodic inhibitory moments when α amplitude is high, leading to periodic decrease of perceptual performance. This study provides strong causal evidence in favor of the pulsed inhibition theory.

Bihemispheric sensorimotor oscillatory network states determine cortical responses to transcranial magnetic stimulation

BACKGROUND

Brain responses to external stimuli vary with fluctuating states of neuronal activity. Previous work has demonstrated effects of phase and power of the ongoing local sensorimotor μ-alpha-oscillation on responses to transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of motor cortex (M1). However, M1 is part of a distributed network, and the effects of oscillatory activity in this network on TMS-evoked EEG responses (TEPs) have not been explored.

OBJECTIVES

To determine the effects of oscillatory activity in the bihemispheric sensorimotor network on TEPs.

METHODS

31 healthy subjects received single-pulse TMS of the left M1 hand area during EEG recording. Ongoing bihemispheric sensorimotor cortex oscillatory states were reconstructed from the EEG directly preceding TMS, and inferred by a data-driven method combining a multivariate autoregressive model and a Hidden Markov model. TEP amplitudes (P25, N45, P70, N100 and P180) were then compared between different bihemispheric sensorimotor cortex oscillatory states.

RESULTS

Four bihemispheric sensorimotor cortex oscillatory states were identified, with different interhemispheric expressions of theta and alpha oscillations. High alpha-power states in the stimulated sensorimotor cortex increased P25 amplitude. Alpha power in the alpha-alpha state (stimulated - non-stimulated hemisphere) correlated in both hemispheres with N45 amplitude. Theta power in the alpha-theta state correlated in the non-stimulated hemisphere with P70 amplitude.

CONCLUSIONS

Bihemispheric sensorimotor cortex oscillatory states contribute to TEPs, with a relevance shift from stimulated to non-stimulated M1 from P25 over N45 to P70. This significantly extends previous findings: not only ongoing local oscillations but distributed network oscillatory states determine cortical responsiveness to external stimuli.

Phase and power modulations on the amplitude of TMS-induced motor evoked potentials

The evaluation of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)-induced motor evoked potentials (MEPs) promises valuable information about fundamental brain related mechanisms and may serve as a diagnostic tool for clinical monitoring of therapeutic progress or surgery procedures. However, reports about spontaneous fluctuations of MEP amplitudes causing high intra-individual variability have led to increased concerns about the reliability of this measure. One possible cause for high variability of MEPs could be neuronal oscillatory activity, which reflects fluctuations of membrane potentials that systematically increase and decrease the excitability of neuronal networks. Here, we investigate the dependence of MEP amplitude on oscillation power and phase by combining the application of single pulse TMS over the primary motor cortex with concurrent recordings of electromyography and electroencephalography. Our results show that MEP amplitude is correlated to alpha phase, alpha power as well as beta phase. These findings may help explain corticospinal excitability fluctuations by highlighting the modulatory effect of alpha and beta phase on MEPs. In the future, controlling for such a causal relationship may allow for the development of new protocols, improve this method as a (diagnostic) tool and increase the specificity and efficacy of general TMS applications.

The Corticospinal Excitability Can Be Predicted by Spontaneous Electroencephalography Oscillations

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has a wide range of clinical applications, and there is growing interest in neural oscillations and corticospinal excitability determined by TMS. Previous studies have shown that corticospinal excitability is influenced by fluctuations of brain oscillations in the sensorimotor region, but it is unclear whether brain network activity modulates corticospinal excitability. Here, we addressed this question by recording electroencephalography (EEG) and TMS measurements in 32 healthy individuals. The resting motor threshold (RMT) and active motor threshold (AMT) were determined as markers of corticospinal excitability. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) was used to identify significant EEG metrics and then correlation analysis was performed. The analysis revealed that alpha2 power in the sensorimotor region was inversely correlated with RMT and AMT. Innovatively, graph theory was used to construct a brain network, and the relationship between the brain network and corticospinal excitability was explored. It was found that the global efficiency in the theta band was positively correlated with RMT. Additionally, the global efficiency in the alpha2 band was negatively correlated with RMT and AMT. These findings indicated that corticospinal excitability can be modulated by the power spectrum in sensorimotor regions and the global efficiency of functional networks. EEG network analysis can provide a useful supplement for studying the association between EEG oscillations and corticospinal excitability.

The primary motor cortex electrical and chemical stimulation attenuates the chronic neuropathic pain by activation of the periaqueductal grey matter: The role of NMDA receptors

BACKGROUND

Motor cortex stimulation (MCS) is proper as a non-pharmacological therapy for patients with chronic and neuropathic pain (NP).

AIMS

This work aims to investigate if the MCS in the primary motor cortex (M₁) produces analgesia and how the MCS could interfere in the MCS-induced analgesia. Also, to elucidate if the persistent activation of N-methyl-d-aspartic acid receptor (NMDAr) in the periaqueductal grey matter (PAG) can contribute to central sensitisation of the NP.

METHODS

Male Wistar rats were submitted to the von Frey test to evaluate the mechanical allodynia after 21 days of chronic constriction injury (CCI) of the sciatic nerve. The MCS was performed with low-frequency (20 μA, 100 Hz) currents during 15 s by a deep brain stimulation (DBS) device. Moreover, the effect of M₁-treatment with an NMDAr agonist (at 2, 4, and 8 nmol) was investigated in CCI rats. The PAG dorsomedial column (dmPAG) was pretreated with the NMDAr antagonist LY 235959 (at 8 nmol), followed by MCS.

RESULTS

The MCS decreased the mechanical allodynia in rats with chronic NP. The M₁-treatment with an NMDA agonist at 2 and 8 nmol reduced the mechanical allodynia in CCI rats. In addition, dmPAG-pretreatment with LY 235959 at 8 nmol attenuated the mechanical allodynia evoked by MCS.

CONCLUSION

The M₁ cortex glutamatergic system is involved in the modulation of chronic NP. The analgesic effect of MCS may depend on glutamate signaling recruitting NMDAr located on PAG neurons in rodents with chronic NP.

Phase-dependent offline enhancement of human motor memory

BACKGROUND

Skill learning engages offline activity in the primary motor cortex (M1). Sensorimotor cortical activity oscillates between excitatory trough and inhibitory peak phases of the mu (8-12 Hz) rhythm. We recently showed that these mu phases influence the magnitude and direction of neuroplasticity induction within M1. However, the contribution of M1 activity during mu peak and trough phases to human skill learning has not been investigated.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the effects of phase-dependent TMS during mu peak and trough phases on offline learning of a newly-acquired motor skill.

METHODS

On Day 1, three groups of healthy adults practiced an explicit motor sequence learning task with their non-dominant left hand. After practice, phase-dependent TMS was applied to the right M1 during either mu peak or mu trough phases. The third group received sham TMS during random mu phases. On Day 2, all subjects were re-tested on the same task to evaluate offline learning.

RESULTS

Subjects who received phase-dependent TMS during mu trough phases showed increased offline skill learning compared to those who received phase-dependent TMS during mu peak phases or sham TMS during random mu phases. Additionally, phase-dependent TMS during mu trough phases elicited stronger whole-brain broadband oscillatory power responses than phase-dependent TMS during mu peak phases.

CONCLUSIONS

We conclude that sensorimotor mu trough phases reflect brief windows of opportunity during which TMS can strengthen newly-acquired skill memories.

Towards a mechanistic approach for the development of non-invasive brain-computer interfaces for motor rehabilitation

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) designed for motor rehabilitation use brain signals associated with motor-processing states to guide neuroplastic changes in a state-dependent manner. These technologies are uniquely positioned to induce targeted and functionally relevant plastic changes in the human motor nervous system. However, while several studies have shown that BCI-based neuromodulation interventions may improve motor function in patients with lesions in the central nervous system, the neurophysiological structures and processes targeted with the BCI interventions have not been identified. In this review, we first summarize current knowledge of the changes in the central nervous system associated with learning new motor skills. Then, we propose a classification of current BCI paradigms for plasticity induction and motor rehabilitation based on the expected neural plastic changes promoted. This classification proposes four paradigms based on two criteria: the plasticity induction methods and the brain states targeted. The existing evidence regarding the brain circuits and processes targeted with these different BCIs is discussed in detail. The proposed classification aims to serve as a starting point for future studies trying to elucidate the underlying plastic changes following BCI interventions.

Does pericentral mu-rhythm "power" corticomotor excitability? - A matter of EEG perspective

BACKGROUND

Electroencephalography (EEG) and single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (spTMS) of the primary motor hand area (M1-HAND) have been combined to explore whether the instantaneous expression of pericentral mu-rhythm drives fluctuations in corticomotor excitability, but this line of research has yielded diverging results.

OBJECTIVES

To re-assess the relationship between the mu-rhythm power expressed in left pericentral cortex and the amplitude of motor potentials (MEP) evoked with spTMS in left M1-HAND.

METHODS

15 non-preselected healthy young participants received spTMS to the motor hot spot of left M1-HAND. Regional expression of mu-rhythm was estimated online based on a radial source at motor hotspot and informed the timing of spTMS which was applied either during epochs belonging to the highest or lowest quartile of regionally expressed mu-power. Using MEP amplitude as dependent variable, we computed a linear mixed-effects model, which included mu-power and mu-phase at the time of stimulation and the inter-stimulus interval (ISI) as fixed effects and subject as a random effect. Mu-phase was estimated by post-hoc sorting of trials into four discrete phase bins. We performed a follow-up analysis on the same EEG-triggered MEP data set in which we isolated mu-power at the sensor level using a Laplacian montage centered on the electrode above the M1-HAND.

RESULTS

Pericentral mu-power traced as radial source at motor hot spot did not significantly modulate the MEP, but mu-power determined by the surface Laplacian did, showing a positive relation between mu-power and MEP amplitude. In neither case, there was an effect of mu-phase on MEP amplitude.

CONCLUSION

The relationship between cortical oscillatory activity and cortical excitability is complex and minor differences in the methodological choices may critically affect sensitivity.

Pinging the brain with transcranial magnetic stimulation reveals cortical reactivity in time and space

BACKGROUND

Single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) elicits an evoked electroencephalography (EEG) potential (TMS-evoked potential, TEP), which is interpreted as direct evidence of cortical reactivity to TMS. Thus, combining TMS with EEG can be used to investigate the mechanism underlying brain network engagement in TMS treatment paradigms. However, controversy remains regarding whether TEP is a genuine marker of TMS-induced cortical reactivity or if it is confounded by responses to peripheral somatosensory and auditory inputs. Resolving this controversy is of great significance for the field and will validate TMS as a tool to probe networks of interest in cognitive and clinical neuroscience.

OBJECTIVE

Here, we delineated the cortical origin of TEP by spatially and temporally localizing successive TEP components, and modulating them with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to investigate cortical reactivity elicited by single-pulse TMS and its causal relationship with cortical excitability.

METHODS

We recruited 18 healthy participants in a double-blind, cross-over, sham-controlled design. We collected motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) and TEPs elicited by suprathreshold single-pulse TMS targeting the left primary motor cortex (M1). To causally test cortical and corticospinal excitability, we applied tDCS to the left M1.

RESULTS

We found that the earliest TEP component (P25) was localized to the left M1. The following TEP components (N45 and P60) were largely localized to the primary somatosensory cortex, which may reflect afferent input by hand-muscle twitches. The later TEP components (N100, P180, and N280) were largely localized to the auditory cortex. As hypothesized, tDCS selectively modulated cortical and corticospinal excitability by modulating the pre-stimulus mu-rhythm oscillatory power.

CONCLUSION

Together, our findings provide causal evidence that the early TEP components reflect cortical reactivity to TMS.

Differences in Power Spectral Densities and Phase Quantities Due to Processing of EEG Signals

There has been a growing interest in computational electroencephalogram (EEG) signal processing in a diverse set of domains, such as cortical excitability analysis, event-related synchronization, or desynchronization analysis. In recent years, several inconsistencies were found across different EEG studies, which authors often attributed to methodological differences. However, the assessment of such discrepancies is deeply underexplored. It is currently unknown if methodological differences can fully explain emerging differences and the nature of these differences. This study aims to contrast widely used methodological approaches in EEG processing and compare their effects on the outcome variables. To this end, two publicly available datasets were collected, each having unique traits so as to validate the results in two different EEG territories. The first dataset included signals with event-related potentials (visual stimulation) from 45 subjects. The second dataset included resting state EEG signals from 16 subjects. Five EEG processing steps, involved in the computation of power and phase quantities of EEG frequency bands, were explored in this study: artifact removal choices (with and without artifact removal), EEG signal transformation choices (raw EEG channels, Hjorth transformed channels, and averaged channels across primary motor cortex), filtering algorithms (Butterworth filter and Blackman-Harris window), EEG time window choices (-750 ms to 0 ms and -250 ms to 0 ms), and power spectral density (PSD) estimation algorithms (Welch's method, Fast Fourier Transform, and Burg's method). Powers and phases estimated by carrying out variations of these five methods were analyzed statistically for all subjects. The results indicated that the choices in EEG transformation and time-window can strongly affect the PSD quantities in a variety of ways. Additionally, EEG transformation and filter choices can influence phase quantities significantly. These results raise the need for a consistent and standard EEG processing pipeline for computational EEG studies. Consistency of signal processing methods cannot only help produce comparable results and reproducible research, but also pave the way for federated machine learning methods, e.g., where model parameters rather than data are shared.

Alertness fluctuations when performing a task modulate cortical evoked responses to transcranial magnetic stimulation

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been widely used in human cognitive neuroscience to examine the causal role of distinct cortical areas in perceptual, cognitive and motor functions. However, it is widely acknowledged that the effects of focal cortical stimulation can vary substantially between participants and even from trial to trial within individuals. Recent work from resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies has suggested that spontaneous fluctuations in alertness over a testing session can modulate the neural dynamics of cortical processing, even when participants remain awake and responsive to the task at hand. Here we investigated the extent to which spontaneous fluctuations in alertness during wake-to-sleep transition can account for the variability in neurophysiological responses to TMS. We combined single-pulse TMS with neural recording via electroencephalography (EEG) to quantify changes in motor and cortical reactivity with fluctuating levels of alertness defined objectively on the basis of ongoing brain activity. We observed rapid, non-linear changes in TMS-evoked responses with decreasing levels of alertness, even while participants remained responsive in the behavioural task. Specifically, we found that the amplitude of motor evoked potentials peaked during periods of EEG flattening, whereas TMS-evoked potentials increased and remained stable during EEG flattening and the subsequent occurrence of theta ripples that indicate the onset of NREM stage 1 sleep. Our findings suggest a rapid and complex reorganization of active neural networks in response to spontaneous fluctuations of alertness over relatively short periods of behavioural testing during wake-to-sleep transition.

Experimental evaluation of methods for real-time EEG phase-specific transcranial magnetic stimulation

OBJECTIVE

Real-time approaches for transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) based on a specific EEG phase are a promising avenue for more precise neuromodulation interventions. However, optimal approaches to reliably extract the EEG phase in a frequency band of interest to inform TMS are still to be identified. Here, we implement a new real-time phase detection method for closed-loop EEG-TMS for robust phase extraction. We compare this algorithm with state-of-the-art methods and evaluate its performance both in silico and experimentally.

APPROACH

We propose a new robust algorithm (Educated Temporal Prediction) for delivering real-time EEG phase-specific stimulation based on short prerecorded EEG training data. This method estimates the interpeak period from a training period and applies a bias correction to predict future peaks. We compare the accuracy and computation speed of the ETP algorithm with two existing methods (Fourier based, Autoregressive Prediction) using prerecorded resting EEG data and real-time experiments.

MAIN RESULTS

We found that Educated Temporal Prediction performs with higher accuracy than Fourier-based or Autoregressive methods both in silico and in vivo while being computationally more efficient. Further, we document the dependency of the EEG signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) on algorithm accuracy across all algorithms.

SIGNIFICANCE

Our results give important insights for real-time EEG-TMS technical development as well as experimental design. Due to its robustness and computational efficiency, our method can find broad use in experimental research or clinical applications. Through open sharing of code for all three methods, we enable broad access of TMS-EEG real-time algorithms to the community.

Interhemispheric symmetry of µ-rhythm phase-dependency of corticospinal excitability

Oscillatory activity in the µ-frequency band (8–13 Hz) determines excitability in sensorimotor cortex. In humans, the primary motor cortex (M1) in the two hemispheres shows significant anatomical, connectional, and electrophysiological differences associated with motor dominance. It is currently unclear whether the µ-oscillation phase effects on corticospinal excitability demonstrated previously for the motor-dominant M1 are also different between motor-dominant and motor-non-dominant M1 or, alternatively, are similar to reflect a ubiquitous physiological trait of the motor system at rest. Here, we applied single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation to the hand representations of the motor-dominant and the motor-non-dominant M1 of 51 healthy right-handed volunteers when electroencephalography indicated a certain µ-oscillation phase (positive peak, negative peak, or random). We determined resting motor threshold (RMT) as a marker of corticospinal excitability in the three µ-phase conditions. RMT differed significantly depending on the pre-stimulus phase of the µ-oscillation in both M1, with highest RMT in the positive-peak condition, and lowest RMT in the negative-peak condition. µ-phase-dependency of RMT correlated directly between the two M1, and interhemispheric differences in µ-phase-dependency were absent. In conclusion, µ-phase-dependency of corticospinal excitability appears to be a ubiquitous physiological trait of the motor system at rest, without hemispheric dominance.

Beta rhythm events predict corticospinal motor output

The beta rhythm (15-30 Hz) is a prominent signal of sensorimotor cortical activity. This rhythm is not sustained but occurs non-rhythmically as brief events of a few (1-2) oscillatory cycles. Recent work on the relationship between these events and sensorimotor performance suggests that they are the biologically relevant elements of the beta rhythm. However, the influence of these events on corticospinal excitability, a mechanism through which the primary motor cortex controls motor output, is unknown. Here, we addressed this question by evaluating relationships between beta event characteristics and corticospinal excitability in healthy adults. Results show that the number, amplitude, and timing of beta events preceding transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) each significantly predicted motor-evoked potential (MEP) amplitudes. However, beta event characteristics did not explain additional MEP amplitude variance beyond that explained by mean beta power alone, suggesting that conventional beta power measures and beta event characteristics similarly captured natural variation in human corticospinal excitability. Despite this lack of additional explained variance, these results provide first evidence that endogenous beta oscillatory events shape human corticospinal excitability.

Pulsed Facilitation of Corticospinal Excitability by the Sensorimotor μ-Alpha Rhythm

Alpha oscillations (8-14 Hz) are assumed to gate information flow in the brain by means of pulsed inhibition; that is, the phasic suppression of cortical excitability and information processing once per alpha cycle, resulting in stronger net suppression for larger alpha amplitudes due to the assumed amplitude asymmetry of the oscillation. While there is evidence for this hypothesis regarding occipital alpha oscillations, it is less clear for the central sensorimotor μ-alpha rhythm. Probing corticospinal excitability via transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the primary motor cortex and the measurement of motor evoked potentials (MEPs), we have previously demonstrated that corticospinal excitability is modulated by both amplitude and phase of the sensorimotor μ-alpha rhythm. However, the direction of this modulation, its proposed asymmetry, and its underlying mechanisms remained unclear. We therefore used real-time EEG-triggered single- and paired-pulse TMS in healthy humans of both sexes to assess corticospinal excitability and GABA-A-receptor mediated short-latency intracortical inhibition (SICI) at rest during spontaneous high amplitude μ-alpha waves at different phase angles (peaks, troughs, rising and falling flanks) and compared them to periods of low amplitude (desynchronized) μ-alpha. MEP amplitude was facilitated during troughs and rising flanks, but no phasic suppression was observed at any time, nor any modulation of SICI. These results are best compatible with sensorimotor μ-alpha reflecting asymmetric pulsed facilitation but not pulsed inhibition of motor cortical excitability. The asymmetric excitability with respect to rising and falling flanks of the μ-alpha cycle further reveals that voltage differences alone cannot explain the impact of phase.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The pulsed inhibition hypothesis, which assumes that alpha oscillations actively inhibit neuronal processing in a phasic manner, is highly influential and has substantially shaped our understanding of these oscillations. However, some of its basic assumptions, in particular its asymmetry and inhibitory nature, have rarely been tested directly. Here, we explicitly investigated the asymmetry of modulation and its direction for the human sensorimotor μ-alpha rhythm. We found clear evidence of pulsed facilitation, but not inhibition, in the human motor cortex, challenging the generalizability of the pulsed inhibition hypothesis and advising caution when interpreting sensorimotor μ-alpha changes in the sensorimotor system. This study also demonstrates how specific assumptions about the neurophysiological underpinnings of cortical oscillations can be experimentally tested noninvasively in humans.