scholarly journals Progesterone modulates theta oscillations in the frontal-parietal network

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Riddle ◽  
Sangtae Ahn ◽  
Trevor McPherson ◽  
Susan Girdler ◽  
Flavio Frohlich
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Specific Effect ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Theta Oscillations ◽  
Network Activity ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Frontal Midline Theta ◽  
Phase Amplitude ◽  
Oscillatory Network

AbstractThe neuroactive metabolites of the steroid hormones progesterone (P4) and testosterone (T) are GABAergic modulators that influence cognitive control, yet the specific effect of P4 and T on brain network activity remains poorly understood. Here, we investigated if a fundamental oscillatory network activity pattern related to cognitive control, frontal midline theta (FMT) oscillations, are modulated by steroids hormones, P4 and T. We measured the concentration P4 and T using salivary enzyme immunoassay and FMT oscillations using high-density electroencephalography (EEG) during the eyes-open resting state in fifty-five healthy female and male participants. Electrical brain activity was analyzed using Morlet wavelet convolution, beamformer source localization, background noise spectral fitting, and phase amplitude coupling analysis. Steroid hormone concentrations and biological sex were used as predictors for scalp and source-estimated theta oscillations and for top-down theta-gamma phase amplitude coupling. Elevated concentrations of P4 predicted increased FMT oscillatory amplitude across both sexes, and no relationship was found with T. The positive correlation with P4 was specific to the frontal-midline electrodes and survived correction for the background noise of the brain. Using source localization, FMT oscillations were localized to the frontal-parietal network. Additionally, theta amplitude within the frontal-parietal network, but not the default mode network, positively correlated with P4 concentration. Finally, P4 concentration correlated with increased coupling between FMT phase and posterior gamma amplitude. Our results suggest that P4 concentration modulates brain activity via upregulation of theta oscillations in the frontal-parietal network and increased top-down control over posterior cortical sites.Significance StatementThe neuroactive metabolites of the steroid hormones progesterone (P4) and testosterone (T) are GABAergic modulators that influence cognitive control, yet the specific effect of P4 and T on brain network activity remains poorly understood. Here, we investigated if a fundamental oscillatory network activity pattern related to cognitive control, frontal midline theta (FMT) oscillations, are modulated by steroids hormones, P4 and T. Our results suggest that P4 concentration modulates brain activity via upregulation of theta oscillations in the frontal-parietal network and increased top-down control over posterior cortical sites.

Altered brain network centrality in patients with trigeminal neuralgia: a resting-state fMRI study

2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pei-Wen Zhu ◽  
You Chen ◽  
Ying-Xin Gong ◽  
Nan Jiang ◽  
Wen-Feng Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Trigeminal Neuralgia ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Characteristic Curve ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Network Activity ◽  
Degree Centrality ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Postcentral Gyrus ◽  
The Right

Background Neuroimaging studies revealed that trigeminal neuralgia was related to alternations in brain anatomical function and regional function. However, the functional characteristics of network organization in the whole brain is unknown. Purpose The aim of the present study was to analyze potential functional network brain-activity changes and their relationships with clinical features in patients with trigeminal neuralgia via the voxel-wise degree centrality method. Material and Methods This study involved a total of 28 trigeminal neuralgia patients (12 men, 16 women) and 28 healthy controls matched in sex, age, and education. Spontaneous brain activity was evaluated by degree centrality. Correlation analysis was used to examine the correlations between behavioral performance and average degree centrality values in several brain regions. Results Compared with healthy controls, trigeminal neuralgia patients had significantly higher degree centrality values in the right lingual gyrus, right postcentral gyrus, left paracentral lobule, and bilateral inferior cerebellum. Receiver operative characteristic curve analysis of each brain region confirmed excellent accuracy of the areas under the curve. There was a positive correlation between the mean degree centrality value of the right postcentral gyrus and VAS score (r = 0.885, P < 0.001). Conclusions Trigeminal neuralgia causes abnormal brain network activity in multiple brain regions, which may be related to underlying disease mechanisms.

scholarly journals Identification of neural oscillations and epileptiform changes in human brain organoids

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ranmal A. Samarasinghe ◽  
Osvaldo A. Miranda ◽  
Simon Mitchell ◽  
Isabella Ferando ◽  
Momoko Watanabe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Network Architecture ◽  
Network Formation ◽  
Neurological Diseases ◽  
Extracellular Recording ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Network Activity ◽  
Intact Brain ◽  
Oscillatory Network

ABSTRACTHuman brain organoids represent a powerful tool for the study of human neurological diseases particularly those that impact brain growth and structure. However, many neurological diseases lack obvious anatomical abnormalities, yet significantly impact neural network functions, raising the question of whether organoids possess sufficient neural network architecture and complexity to model these conditions. Here, we explore the network level functions of brain organoids using calcium sensor imaging and extracellular recording approaches that together reveal the existence of complex oscillatory network behaviors reminiscent of intact brain preparations. We further demonstrate strikingly abnormal epileptiform network activity in organoids derived from a Rett Syndrome patient despite only modest anatomical differences from isogenically matched controls, and rescue with an unconventional neuromodulatory drug Pifithrin-α. Together, these findings provide an essential foundation for the utilization of human brain organoids to study intact and disordered human brain network formation and illustrate their utility in therapeutic discovery.

scholarly journals Neurophysiological network dynamics of pitch change detection

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soheila Samiee ◽  
Dominique Vuvan ◽  
Esther Florin ◽  
Philippe Albouy ◽  
Isabelle Peretz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Motor Cortex ◽  
Auditory Cortex ◽  
Change Detection ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Slow Phase ◽  
Speech Comprehension ◽  
Pitch Change ◽  
Phase Amplitude

AbstractThe detection of pitch changes is crucial to sound localization, music appreciation and speech comprehension, yet the brain network oscillatory dynamics involved remain unclear. We used time-resolved cortical imaging in a pitch change detection task. Tone sequences were presented to both typical listeners and participants affected with congenital amusia, as a model of altered pitch change perception.Our data show that tone sequences entrained slow (2-4 Hz) oscillations in the auditory cortex and inferior frontal gyrus, at the pace of tone presentations. Inter-regional signaling at this slow pace was directed from auditory cortex towards the inferior frontal gyrus and motor cortex. Bursts of faster (15-35Hz) oscillations were also generated in these regions, with directed influence from the motor cortex. These faster components occurred precisely at the expected latencies of each tone in a sequence, yielding a form of local phase-amplitude coupling with slower concurrent activity. The intensity of this coupling peaked dynamically at the moment of anticipated pitch changes.We clarify the mechanistic relevance of these observations in relation to behavior as, by task design, typical listeners outperformed amusic participants. Compared to typical listeners, inter-regional slow signaling toward motor and inferior frontal cortices was depressed in amusia. Also, the auditory cortex of amusic participants over-expressed tonic, fast-slow phase-amplitude coupling, pointing at a possible misalignment between stimulus encoding and internal predictive signaling. Our study provides novel insight into the functional architecture of polyrhythmic brain activity in auditory perception and emphasizes active, network processes involving the motor system in sensory integration.

scholarly journals Neural systems of cognitive demand avoidance

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ceyda Sayalı ◽  
David Badre
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Avoidance Behavior ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Cognitive Effort ◽  
Network Activity ◽  
Partial Support ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Demand Selection ◽  
Control Hypothesis ◽  
Reward Network

AbstractCognitive effort is typically aversive, evident in people’s tendency to avoid cognitively demanding tasks. The ‘cost of control’ hypothesis suggests that engagement of cognitive control systems of the brain makes a task costly and the currency of that cost is a reduction in anticipated rewards. However, prior studies have relied on binary hard versus easy task subtractions to manipulate cognitive effort and so have not tested this hypothesis in “dose-response” fashion. In a sample of 50 participants, we parametrically manipulated the level of effort during fMRI scanning by systematically increasing cognitive control demands during a demand-selection paradigm over six levels. As expected, frontoparietal control network (FPN) activity increased, and reward network activity decreased, as control demands increased across tasks. However, avoidance behavior was not attributable to the change in FPN activity, lending only partial support to the cost of control hypothesis. By contrast, we unexpectedly observed that the deactivation of a task-negative brain network corresponding to the Default Mode Network (DMN) across levels of the cognitive control manipulation predicted the change in avoidance. In summary, we find partial support for the cost of control hypothesis, while highlighting the role of task-negative brain networks in modulating effort avoidance behavior.

scholarly journals Altered brain network centrality in patients with adult comitant exotropia strabismus: A resting-state fMRI study

2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 392-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gang Tan ◽  
Zeng-Renqing Dan ◽  
Ying Zhang ◽  
Xin Huang ◽  
Yu-Lin Zhong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Activity ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Network Activity ◽  
Ocular Motility ◽  
Behavioral Performance ◽  
Parietal Lobule ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Relationship

Objective To investigate the underlying functional network brain-activity changes in patients with adult comitant exotropia strabismus (CES) and the relationship with clinical features using the voxel-wise degree centrality (DC) method. Methods A total of 30 patients with CES (17 men, 13 women), and 30 healthy controls (HCs; 17 men, 13 women) matched in age, sex, and education level participated in the study. DC was used to evaluate spontaneous brain activity. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was conducted to distinguish CESs from HCs. The relationship between mean DC values in various brain regions and behavioral performance was examined with correlation analysis. Results Compared with HCs, CES patients exhibited decreased DC values in the right cerebellum posterior lobe, right inferior frontal gyrus, right middle frontal gyrus and right superior parietal lobule/primary somatosensory cortex (S1), and increased DC values in the right superior temporal gyrus, bilateral anterior cingulate, right superior temporal gyrus, and left inferior parietal lobule. However, there was no correlation between mean DC values and behavioral performance in any brain regions. Conclusions Adult comitant exotropia strabismus is associated with abnormal brain network activity in various brain regions, possibly reflecting the pathological mechanisms of ocular motility disorders in CES.

scholarly journals Spontaneous network activity <35 Hz accounts for variability in stimulus-induced gamma responses

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Stimulation ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Network Activity ◽  
Gamma Activity ◽  
Attention And Memory ◽  
Markov Modelling ◽  
Network Profile ◽  
The Individual ◽  
And Behavior

Gamma activity is thought to serve several cognitive processes, including attention and memory. Even for the simplest stimulus, the occurrence of gamma activity is highly variable, both within and between individuals. The sources of this variability are largely unknown. They are, however, critical to deepen our understanding of the relation between gamma activity and behavior.In this paper, we address one possible cause of this variability: the cross-frequency influence of spontaneous, whole-brain network activity on visual stimulus processing. By applying Hidden Markov modelling to MEG data, we reveal that the trial-averaged gamma response to a moving grating depends on the individual network profile, inferred from slower brain activity (<35 Hz) in the absence of stimulation (resting-state and task baseline). In addition, we demonstrate that dynamic modulations of this network activity in task baseline bias the gamma response on the level of trials.In summary, our results reveal a cross-frequency and cross-session association between gamma responses induced by visual stimulation and spontaneous network activity.

scholarly journals Investigating the interaction between white matter and brain state on tDCS-induced changes in brain network activity

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle L. Kurtin ◽  
Ines R. Violante ◽  
Karl Zimmerman ◽  
Robert Leech ◽  
Adam Hampshire ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
White Matter ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Brain Networks ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Network Activity ◽  
Brain State ◽  
State Dependent ◽  
Cathodal Tdcs ◽  
The Right

AbstractBackgroundTranscranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a form of noninvasive brain stimulation whose potential as a cognitive therapy is hindered by our limited understanding of how participant and experimental factors influence its effects. Using functional MRI to study brain networks, we have previously shown in healthy controls that the physiological effects of tDCS are strongly influenced by brain state. We have additionally shown, in both healthy and traumatic brain injury (TBI) populations, that the behavioral effects of tDCS are positively correlated with white matter (WM) structure.ObjectivesIn this study we investigate how these two factors, WM structure and brain state, interact to shape the effect of tDCS on brain network activity.MethodsWe applied anodal, cathodal and sham tDCS to the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) of healthy (n=22) and TBI participants (n=34). We used the Choice Reaction Task (CRT) performance to manipulate brain state during tDCS. We acquired simultaneous fMRI to assess activity of cognitive brain networks and used Fractional Anisotropy (FA) as a measure of WM structure.ResultsWe find that the effects of tDCS on brain network activity in TBI participants are highly dependent on brain state, replicating findings from our previous healthy control study in a separate, patient cohort. We then show that WM structure further modulates the brain-state dependent effects of tDCS on brain network activity. These effects are not unidirectional – in the absence of task with anodal and cathodal tDCS, FA is positively correlated with brain activity in several regions of the default mode network. Conversely, with cathodal tDCS during CRT performance, FA is negatively correlated with brain activity in a salience network region.ConclusionsOur results show that experimental and participant factors interact to have unexpected effects on brain network activity, and that these effects are not fully predictable by studying the factors in isolation.

scholarly journals Meta-analytic clustering dissociates brain activity and behavior profiles across reward processing paradigms

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica S. Flannery ◽  
Michael C. Riedel ◽  
Katherine L. Bottenhorn ◽  
Ranjita Poudel ◽  
Taylor Salo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Functional Neuroimaging ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Reward Processing ◽  
Network Activity ◽  
Reward Learning ◽  
Learning Theories ◽  
Behavior Profiles

ABSTRACTReward learning is a ubiquitous cognitive mechanism guiding adaptive choices and behaviors, and when impaired, can lead to considerable mental health consequences. Reward-related functional neuroimaging studies have begun to implicate networks of brain regions essential for processing various peripheral influences (e.g., risk, subjective preference, delay, social context) involved in the multifaceted reward processing construct. To provide a more complete neurocognitive perspective on reward processing that synthesizes findings across the literature while also appreciating these peripheral influences, we utilized emerging meta-analytic techniques to elucidate brain regions, and in turn networks, consistently engaged in distinct aspects of reward processing. Using a data-driven, meta-analytic, k-means clustering approach, we dissociated seven meta-analytic groupings (MAGs) of neuroimaging results (i.e., brain activity maps) from 749 experimental contrasts across 176 reward processing studies involving 13,358 healthy participants. We then performed an exploratory functional decoding approach to gain insight into the putative functions associated with each MAG. We identified a seven-MAG clustering solution which represented dissociable patterns of convergent brain activity across reward processing tasks. Additionally, our functional decoding analyses revealed that each of these MAGs mapped onto discrete behavior profiles that suggested specialized roles in predicting value (MAG-1 & MAG-2) and processing a variety of emotional (MAG-3), external (MAG-4 & MAG-5), and internal (MAG-6 & MAG-7) influences across reward processing paradigms. These findings support and extend aspects of well-accepted reward learning theories and highlight large-scale brain network activity associated with distinct aspects of reward processing.

scholarly journals Characterizing the Network Architecture of Emotion Regulation Neurodevelopment

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
João F. Guassi Moreira ◽  
Katie A. McLaughlin ◽  
Jennifer A. Silvers
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Skill Acquisition ◽  
Network Architecture ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Brain Networks ◽  
Adult Life ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Network Activity ◽  
Whole Brain

AbstractThe ability to regulate emotions is key to goal attainment and wellbeing. Although much has been discovered about how the human brain develops to support the acquisition of emotion regulation, very little of this work has leveraged information encoded in whole-brain networks. Here we employed a network neuroscience framework in conjunction with machine learning to: (i) parse the neural underpinnings of emotion regulation skill acquisition while accounting for age, and (ii) build a working taxonomy of brain network activity supporting emotion regulation in a sample of youth (N = 70, 34 female). We were able to predict emotion regulation ability, but not age, using network activity metrics from whole-brain networks during an emotion regulation task. Further, by leveraging analytic techniques traditionally used in evolutionary biology (e.g., cophenetic correlations), we were able to demonstrate that brain networks evince reliable taxonomic organization to meet emotion regulation demands in youth. This work shows that meaningful information about emotion regulation development is encoded in whole-brain network activity, suggesting that brain activity during emotion regulation encodes unique information about regulatory skill acquisition in youth but not domain-general maturation.Significance StatementThe acquisition of emotion regulation is critical for healthy functioning in later adult life. To date, little is known about how brain networks support the developmental acquisition of emotion regulation skills. This is noteworthy because brain networks have been increasingly shown to provide highly useful information about neural activity. Here we show that brain activity during an emotion regulation task encodes information about regulatory abilities over and above age. These results suggest emotion regulation skills are dependent on neural specialization of domain-specific systems, whereas age is encoded via domain-general systems.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document