The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience
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Accumulating evidence suggests a role for inhibitory neurotransmitter dysfunction in the pathology of tinnitus. Opposing hypotheses proposed either a pathologic decrease or increase of GABAergic inhibition in medial geniculate body (MGB). In thalamus, GABA mediates fast synaptic inhibition via synaptic GABAA receptors (GABAARs) and persistent tonic inhibition via high-affinity extrasynaptic GABAARs. ⋯ Tinnitus and chronic pain may reflect thalamocortical dysrhythmia, which results from abnormal theta-range resonant interactions between thalamus and cortex, due to neuronal hyperpolarization and the initiation of low-threshold calcium spike bursts (Walton and Llinás, 2010). In agreement with this hypothesis, we found tinnitus-related increases in tonic extrasynaptic GABAAR currents, in action potentials/evoked bursts, and in GABAAR δ-subunit gene expression. These tinnitus-related changes in GABAergic function may be markers for tinnitus pathology in the MGB.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Static Magnetic Field Stimulation over the Visual Cortex Increases Alpha Oscillations and Slows Visual Search in Humans.
Transcranial static magnetic field stimulation (tSMS) was recently introduced as a promising tool to modulate human cerebral excitability in a noninvasive and portable way. However, a demonstration that static magnetic fields can influence human brain activity and behavior is currently lacking, despite evidence that static magnetic fields interfere with neuronal function in animals. ⋯ The typical relationship between prestimulus alpha power over posterior cortical areas and reaction time (RT) to targets during tSMS is altered such that tSMS-dependent increases in alpha power are associated with longer RTs for difficult, but not easy, target detection trials. Our results directly demonstrate that a powerful magnet placed on the scalp modulates normal brain activity and induces behavioral changes in humans.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Neural Substrates for Head Movements in Humans: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study.
The neural systems controlling head movements are not well delineated in humans. It is not clear whether the ipsilateral or contralateral primary motor cortex is involved in turning the head right or left. Furthermore, the exact location of the neck motor area in the somatotopic organization of the motor homunculus is still debated and evidence for contributions from other brain regions in humans is scarce. ⋯ Electromyographic recordings of neck and hand muscles during scanning ensured compliance with the tasks. Increased brain activity during isometric head rotation was observed bilaterally in the precentral gyrus, both medial and lateral to the hand area, as well the supplementary motor area, insula, putamen, and cerebellum. These findings clarify the location of the neck region in the motor homunculus and help to reconcile some of the conflicting results obtained in earlier studies.
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Current theory proposes that healthy neural dynamics operate in a metastable regime, where brain regions interact to simultaneously maximize integration and segregation. Metastability may confer important behavioral properties, such as cognitive flexibility. It is increasingly recognized that neural dynamics are constrained by the underlying structural connections between brain regions. ⋯ Furthermore, decreased metastability was associated with reduced cognitive flexibility and information processing. A computational model, defined by empirically derived connectivity data, demonstrates how behaviorally relevant changes in neural dynamics result from structural disconnection. Our findings suggest how metastable dynamics are important for normal brain function and contingent on the structure of the human connectome.
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The human brain undergoes substantial development throughout adolescence and into early adulthood. This maturational process is thought to include the refinement of connectivity between putative connectivity hub regions of the brain, which collectively form a dense core that enhances the functional integration of anatomically distributed, and functionally specialized, neural systems. Here, we used longitudinal diffusion magnetic resonance imaging to characterize changes in connectivity between 80 cortical and subcortical anatomical regions over a 2 year period in 31 adolescents between the ages of 15 and 19 years. ⋯ Hub regions showed a distinct tendency to be highly connected to each other, indicating robust "rich-club" organization. Moreover, connectivity between hubs was disproportionately influenced by development, such that connectivity between subcortical hubs decreased over time, whereas frontal-subcortical and frontal-parietal hub-hub connectivity increased over time. These findings suggest that late adolescence is characterized by selective, yet significant remodeling of hub-hub connectivity, with the topological organization of hubs shifting emphasis from subcortical hubs in favor of an increasingly prominent role for frontal hub regions.