Temporal Framing of Thalamic Relay-Mode Firing by Phasic Inhibition during the Alpha Rhythm

Lőrincz, Magor L.; Kékesi, Katalin A.; Juhász, Gábor; Crunelli, Vincenzo; Hughes, Stuart W.

doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2009.08.012

Cited by 298 publications

(355 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…This is furthermore supported by recent electrophysiological recordings and computational models of LGN activity that show that during strong phasic inhibition the spiking of geniculate neurons and pyramidal cells will be phase-coupled with the trough of the alpha cycle, whereas during weaker inhibition spiking activity will be coupled to the peak of the alpha cycle (Lorincz et al, 2009;Vijayan and Kopell, 2012). As a result, alpha based synchronization of geniculate and cortical responses may lead to a temporal framing of neuronal responses that could modulate the transmission of information from the LGN to cortex (Lorincz et al, 2009). …”

Section: Thalamus and Network Oscillationsmentioning

confidence: 54%

Thalamo-cortical communication, glutamatergic neurotransmission and neural oscillations: A unique window into the origins of ScZ?

Pratt

Dawson

Morris

et al. 2017

Schizophrenia Research

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Abstract:The thalamus has recently received renewed interest in systems-neuroscience and schizophrenia (ScZ) research because of emerging evidence highlighting its important role in coordinating functional interactions in cortical-subcortical circuits. Moreover, higher cognitive functions, such as working memory and attention, have been related to thalamo-cortical interactions, providing a novel perspective for the understanding of the neural substrate of cognition. The current review will support this perspective by summarizing evidence on the crucial role of neural oscillations in facilitating thalamo-cortical (TC) interactions during normal brain functioning and its potential impairment in ScZ.Specifically, we will focus on the relationship between NMDA-R mediated (glutamatergic) neurotransmission in TC-interactions. To this end, we will first review the functional anatomy and neurotransmitters in thalamic circuits, followed by a review of the oscillatory signatures and cognitive processes supported by TC-circuits. In the second part of the paper, data from preclinical research as well as human studies will be summarized that have implicated TC-interactions as a crucial target for NMDA-receptor hypofunctioning. Finally, we will compare these neural signatures with current evidence from ScZ-research, suggesting a potential overlap between alterations in TC-circuits as the result of NMDA-R deficits and stage-specific alterations in large-scale networks in ScZ.

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Section: Thalamus and Network Oscillationsmentioning

confidence: 54%

Thalamo-cortical communication, glutamatergic neurotransmission and neural oscillations: A unique window into the origins of ScZ?

Pratt

Dawson

Morris

et al. 2017

Schizophrenia Research

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“…GABAergic feedback from interneurons has been strongly implicated in the physiological mechanism generating the alpha rhythm (Lopes da Silva et al, 1976;Crunelli and Leresche, 1991;Jones et al, 2000;Liley et al, 2002). Thus, it is possible that rhythmic neuronal activity generating the alpha oscillations is a consequence of a GABAergic inhibitory feedback paced by neocortical or thalamic rhythm generators (Hughes and Crunelli, 2005;Lörincz et al, 2008Lörincz et al, , 2009Liley et al, 2010). We suggest that this GABAergic feedback could function to directly dampen processing by providing shunting inhibition to pyramidal neurons or reduce the efficacy of incoming excitatory input.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Modulation of Visually Evoked Cortical fMRI Responses by Phase of Ongoing Occipital Alpha Oscillations

Scheeringa¹,

Mazaheri²,

Bojak³

et al. 2011

J. Neurosci.

130

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Using simultaneous electroencephalography as a measure of ongoing activity and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) as a measure of the stimulus-driven neural response, we examined whether the amplitude and phase of occipital alpha oscillations at the onset of a brief visual stimulus affects the amplitude of the visually evoked fMRI response. When accounting for intrinsic coupling of alpha amplitude and occipital fMRI signal by modeling and subtracting pseudo-trials, no significant effect of prestimulus alpha amplitude on the evoked fMRI response could be demonstrated. Regarding the effect of alpha phase, we found that stimuli arriving at the peak of the alpha cycle yielded a lower blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI response in early visual cortex (V1/V2) than stimuli presented at the trough of the cycle. Our results therefore show that phase of occipital alpha oscillations impacts the overall strength of a visually evoked response, as indexed by the BOLD signal. This observation complements existing evidence that alpha oscillations reflect periodic variations in cortical excitability and suggests that the phase of oscillations in postsynaptic potentials can serve as a mechanism of gain control for incoming neural activity. Finally, our findings provide a putative neural basis for observations of alpha phase dependence of visual perceptual performance.

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“…In this view, α-oscillations modulate neuronal processing in a phasic manner (44), with direct implications for subsequent performance. The stronger the α-power, the stronger the functional inhibition that then reduces the spike activity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

α-Oscillations in the monkey sensorimotor network influence discrimination performance by rhythmical inhibition of neuronal spiking

Haegens

Nácher

Luna

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

694

627

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Extensive work in humans using magneto-and electroencephalography strongly suggests that decreased oscillatory α-activity (8-14 Hz) facilitates processing in a given region, whereas increased α-activity serves to actively suppress irrelevant or interfering processing. However, little work has been done to understand how α-activity is linked to neuronal firing. Here, we simultaneously recorded local field potentials and spikes from somatosensory, premotor, and motor regions while a trained monkey performed a vibrotactile discrimination task. In the local field potentials we observed strong activity in the α-band, which decreased in the sensorimotor regions during the discrimination task. This α-power decrease predicted better discrimination performance. Furthermore, the α-oscillations demonstrated a rhythmic relation with the spiking, such that firing was highest at the trough of the α-cycle. Firing rates increased with a decrease in α-power. These findings suggest that α-oscillations exercise a strong inhibitory influence on both spike timing and firing rate. Thus, the pulsed inhibition by α-oscillations plays an important functional role in the extended sensorimotor system.T he prominent posterior α-rhythm (8-14 Hz) was first described by Hans Berger (1) and long considered to reflect cortical idling (2, 3). To a large extent, the α-rhythm has been ignored by animal neurophysiologists (but see ref. 4) and considered to be of little functional relevance. Thus, it remains largely unknown how ongoing α-oscillations relate to neuronal firing.In contrast to the idling hypothesis, converging electrophysiological evidence in humans suggests that α-oscillations play an important functional role in cognitive processing (5-7). In particular, α-activity might serve to shape the state of sensory brain regions to direct the flow of information and optimize performance (8). In support of this idea, several studies on visual perception have shown that anticipatory α-activity reflects the orienting of attention (9-14) and influences detection performance (15-17). Recently, it was shown that the functionality of α-oscillations can be generalized to the somatosensory system (18-21). Furthermore, α-activity has been implicated in visual (22-25), auditory (26), and somatosensory working-memory performance (27).These studies strongly suggest that decreased α-activity facilitates processing in task-relevant brain regions, whereas increased α-activity functions to suppress distracting input in task-irrelevant regions. However, given the strong oscillatory nature of the α-activity, it is less clear how it influences processing in a phasic manner. It has been suggested that α-oscillations serve to depress processing every ∼100 ms by a mechanism of pulsed inhibition (5,(28)(29)(30). In support of this notion, it has recently been demonstrated that perception is modulated by the prestimulus phase of the α-rhythm (31, 32). Likewise, it was recently shown that the magnitude of the blood-oxygen level-dependent signal in response to a visual...

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Temporal Framing of Thalamic Relay-Mode Firing by Phasic Inhibition during the Alpha Rhythm

Cited by 298 publications

References 34 publications

Thalamo-cortical communication, glutamatergic neurotransmission and neural oscillations: A unique window into the origins of ScZ?

Thalamo-cortical communication, glutamatergic neurotransmission and neural oscillations: A unique window into the origins of ScZ?

Modulation of Visually Evoked Cortical fMRI Responses by Phase of Ongoing Occipital Alpha Oscillations

α-Oscillations in the monkey sensorimotor network influence discrimination performance by rhythmical inhibition of neuronal spiking

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