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Giangrande A, Cerone GL, Botter A, Piitulainen H. Volitional muscle activation intensifies neuronal processing of proprioceptive afference in the primary sensorimotor cortex: an EEG study. J Neurophysiol 2024; 131:28-37. [PMID: 37964731 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00340.2023] [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: 09/08/2023] [Revised: 10/18/2023] [Accepted: 11/09/2023] [Indexed: 11/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Proprioception refers to the ability to perceive the position and movement of body segments in space. The cortical aspects of the proprioceptive afference from the body can be investigated using corticokinematic coherence (CKC). CKC accurately quantifies the degree of coupling between cortical activity and limb kinematics, especially if precise proprioceptive stimulation of evoked movements is used. However, there is no evidence on how volitional muscle activation during proprioceptive stimulation affects CKC strength. Twenty-five healthy volunteers (28.8 ± 7 yr, 11 females) participated in the experiment, which included electroencephalographic (EEG), electromyographic (EMG), and kinematic recordings. Ankle-joint rotations (2-Hz) were elicited through a movement actuator in two conditions: passive condition with relaxed ankle and active condition with constant 5-Nm plantar flexion exerted during the stimulation. In total, 6 min of data were recorded per condition. CKC strength was defined as the maximum coherence value among all the EEG channels at the 2-Hz movement frequency for each condition separately. Both conditions resulted in significant CKC peaking at the Cz electrode over the foot area of the primary sensorimotor (SM1) cortex. Stronger CKC was found for the active (0.13 ± 0.14) than the passive (0.03 ± 0.04) condition (P < 0.01). The results indicated that volitional activation of the muscles intensifies the neuronal proprioceptive processing in the SM1 cortex. This finding could be explained both by peripheral sensitization of the ankle joint proprioceptors and central modulation of the neuronal proprioceptive processing at the spinal and cortical levels.NEW & NOTEWORTHY The current study is the first to investigate the effect of volitional muscle activation on CKC-based assessment of cortical proprioception of the ankle joint. Results show that the motor efference intensifies the neuronal processing of proprioceptive afference of the ankle joint. This is a significant finding as it may extend the use of CKC method during active tasks to further evaluate the motor efference-proprioceptive afference relationship and the related adaptations to exercise, rehabilitation, and disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessandra Giangrande
- Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
- Laboratory of Neuromuscular System and Rehabilitation Engineering, DET, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy
| | - Giacinto Luigi Cerone
- Laboratory of Neuromuscular System and Rehabilitation Engineering, DET, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy
| | - Alberto Botter
- Laboratory of Neuromuscular System and Rehabilitation Engineering, DET, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy
| | - Harri Piitulainen
- Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
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Ahtola E, Leikos S, Tuiskula A, Haataja L, Smeds E, Piitulainen H, Jousmäki V, Tokariev A, Vanhatalo S. Cortical networks show characteristic recruitment patterns after somatosensory stimulation by pneumatically evoked repetitive hand movements in newborn infants. Cereb Cortex 2022; 33:4699-4713. [PMID: 36368888 PMCID: PMC10110426 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac373] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2022] [Revised: 08/26/2022] [Accepted: 08/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Controlled assessment of functional cortical networks is an unmet need in the clinical research of noncooperative subjects, such as infants. We developed an automated, pneumatic stimulation method to actuate naturalistic movements of an infant’s hand, as well as an analysis pipeline for assessing the elicited electroencephalography (EEG) responses and related cortical networks. Twenty newborn infants with perinatal asphyxia were recruited, including 7 with mild-to-moderate hypoxic–ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). Statistically significant corticokinematic coherence (CKC) was observed between repetitive hand movements and EEG in all infants, peaking near the contralateral sensorimotor cortex. CKC was robust to common sources of recording artifacts and to changes in vigilance state. A wide recruitment of cortical networks was observed with directed phase transfer entropy, also including areas ipsilateral to the stimulation. The extent of such recruited cortical networks was quantified using a novel metric, Spreading Index, which showed a decrease in 4 (57%) of the infants with HIE. CKC measurement is noninvasive and easy to perform, even in noncooperative subjects. The stimulation and analysis pipeline can be fully automated, including the statistical evaluation of the cortical responses. Therefore, the CKC paradigm holds great promise as a scientific and clinical tool for controlled assessment of functional cortical networks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eero Ahtola
- Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, BABA Center, Pediatric Research Center, Children’s Hospital and HUS Diagnostics, , Helsinki, 00029 HUS , Finland
- Aalto University School of Science Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, , Espoo, 00076 AALTO , Finland
| | - Susanna Leikos
- Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, BABA Center, Pediatric Research Center, Children’s Hospital and HUS Diagnostics, , Helsinki, 00029 HUS , Finland
| | - Anna Tuiskula
- Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, BABA Center, Pediatric Research Center, Children’s Hospital and HUS Diagnostics, , Helsinki, 00029 HUS , Finland
- Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki Department of Pediatric Neurology, Children’s Hospital, , Helsinki, 00029 HUS , Finland
| | - Leena Haataja
- Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki Department of Pediatric Neurology, Children’s Hospital, , Helsinki, 00029 HUS , Finland
| | - Eero Smeds
- Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki Children’s Hospital and Pediatric Research Center, , Helsinki, 00029 HUS , Finland
| | - Harri Piitulainen
- Aalto University School of Science Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, , Espoo, 00076 AALTO , Finland
- University of Jyväskylä Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, , Jyväskylä, 40014 , Finland
| | - Veikko Jousmäki
- Aalto University Aalto NeuroImaging, Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, , Espoo, 00076 AALTO , Finland
| | - Anton Tokariev
- Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, BABA Center, Pediatric Research Center, Children’s Hospital and HUS Diagnostics, , Helsinki, 00029 HUS , Finland
| | - Sampsa Vanhatalo
- Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, BABA Center, Pediatric Research Center, Children’s Hospital and HUS Diagnostics, , Helsinki, 00029 HUS , Finland
- University of Helsinki Department of Physiology, , Helsinki, 00014 , Finland
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Hakonen M, Nurmi T, Vallinoja J, Jaatela J, Piitulainen H. More comprehensive proprioceptive stimulation of the hand amplifies its cortical processing. J Neurophysiol 2022; 128:568-581. [PMID: 35858122 PMCID: PMC9423773 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00485.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2021] [Revised: 06/21/2022] [Accepted: 07/11/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Corticokinematic coherence (CKC) quantifies the phase coupling between limb kinematics and cortical neurophysiological signals reflecting proprioceptive feedback to the primary sensorimotor (SM1) cortex. We studied whether the CKC strength or cortical source location differs between proprioceptive stimulation (i.e., actuator-evoked movements) of right-hand digits (index, middle, ring, and little). Twenty-one volunteers participated in magnetoencephalography measurements during which three conditions were tested: 1) simultaneous stimulation of all four fingers at the same frequency, 2) stimulation of each finger separately at the same frequency, and 3) simultaneous stimulation of the fingers at finger-specific frequencies. CKC was computed between MEG responses and accelerations of the fingers recorded with three-axis accelerometers. CKC was stronger (P < 0.003) for the simultaneous (0.52 ± 0.02) than separate (0.45 ± 0.02) stimulation at the same frequency. Furthermore, CKC was weaker (P < 0.03) for the simultaneous stimulation at the finger-specific frequencies (0.38 ± 0.02) than for the separate stimulation. CKC source locations of the fingers were concentrated in the hand region of the SM1 cortex and did not follow consistent finger-specific somatotopic order. Our results indicate that proprioceptive afference from the fingers is processed in partly overlapping cortical neuronal circuits, which was demonstrated by the modulation of the finger-specific CKC strengths due to proprioceptive afference arising from simultaneous stimulation of the other fingers of the same hand as well as overlapping cortical source locations. Finally, comprehensive simultaneous proprioceptive stimulation of the hand would optimize functional cortical mapping to pinpoint the hand region, e.g., prior brain surgery.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Corticokinematic coherence (CKC) can be used to study cortical proprioceptive processing and localize proprioceptive hand representation. Our results indicate that proprioceptive stimulation delivered simultaneously at the same frequency to fingers (D2-D4) maximizes CKC strength allowing robust and fast localization of the human hand region in the sensorimotor cortex using MEG.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Hakonen
- Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
- Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University School of Science, Espoo, Finland
- Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Timo Nurmi
- Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
- Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University School of Science, Espoo, Finland
| | - Jaakko Vallinoja
- Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University School of Science, Espoo, Finland
| | - Julia Jaatela
- Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University School of Science, Espoo, Finland
| | - Harri Piitulainen
- Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
- Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University School of Science, Espoo, Finland
- Aalto NeuroImaging, Magnetoencephalography Core, Aalto University School of Science, Espoo, Finland
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Giangrande A, Cerone GL, Gazzoni M, Botter A, Piitulainen H. Quantification of cortical proprioceptive processing through a wireless and miniaturized EEG amplifier. ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY. IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY. ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2022; 2022:4797-4800. [PMID: 36086130 DOI: 10.1109/embc48229.2022.9871637] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Corticokinematic coherence (CKC) is computed between limb kinematics and cortical activity (e.g. MEG, EEG), and it can be used to detect, quantify and localize the cortical processing of proprioceptive afference arising from the body. EEG-based studies on CKC have been limited to lab environments due to bulky, non-portable instrumentations. We recently proposed a wireless and miniaturized EEG acquisition system aimed at enabling EEG studies outside the laboratory. The purpose of this work is to compare the EEG-based CKC values obtained with this device with a conventional wired-EEG acquisition system to validate its use in the quantification of cortical proprioceptive processing. Eleven healthy right-handed participants were recruited (six males, four females, age range: 24-40 yr). A pneumatic-movement actuator was used to evoke right index-finger flexion-extension movement at 3 Hz for 4 min. The task was repeated both with the wireless-EEG and wired-EEG devices using the same 30-channel EEG cap preparation. CKC was computed between the EEG and finger acceleration. CKC peaked at the movement frequency and its harmonics, being statistically significant (p < 0.05) in 8-10 out of 11 participants. No statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) were found in CKC strength between wireless-EEG (range 0.03-0.22) and wired-EEG (0.02-0.33) systems, that showed a good agreement between the recording systems (3 Hz: r = 0.57, p = 0.071, 6 Hz: r = 0.82, p = 0.003). As expected, CKC peaked in sensors above the left primary sensorimotor cortex contralateral to the moved right index finger. As the wired-EEG device, the tested wireless-EEG system has proven feasible to quantify CKC, and thus can be used as a tool to study proprioception in the human neocortex. Thanks to its portability, the wireless-EEG used in this study has the potential to enable the examination of cortical proprioception in more naturalistic conditions outside the laboratory environment. Clinical Relevance-Our study will contribute to provide innovative technological foundations for future unobtrusive EEG recordings in naturalistic conditions to examine human sensorimotor system.
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