Input-dependent modulation of MEG gamma oscillations reflects gain control in the visual cortex

Orekhova, E. V. et al. (2018) Input-dependent modulation of MEG gamma oscillations reflects gain control in the visual cortex. Scientific Reports, 8, 8451. (doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-26779-6) (PMID:29855596) (PMCID:PMC5981429)

Abstract

Gamma-band oscillations arise from the interplay between neural excitation (E) and inhibition (I) and may provide a non-invasive window into the state of cortical circuitry. A bell-shaped modulation of gamma response power by increasing the intensity of sensory input was observed in animals and is thought to reflect neural gain control. Here we sought to find a similar input-output relationship in humans with MEG via modulating the intensity of a visual stimulation by changing the velocity/temporal-frequency of visual motion. In the first experiment, adult participants observed static and moving gratings. The frequency of the MEG gamma response monotonically increased with motion velocity whereas power followed a bell-shape. In the second experiment, on a large group of children and adults, we found that despite drastic developmental changes in frequency and power of gamma oscillations, the relative suppression at high motion velocities was scaled to the same range of values across the life-span. In light of animal and modeling studies, the modulation of gamma power and frequency at high stimulation intensities characterizes the capacity of inhibitory neurons to counterbalance increasing excitation in visual networks. Gamma suppression may thus provide a non-invasive measure of inhibitory-based gain control in the healthy and diseased brain.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This work is financed by Torsten Soderberg Foundation (M240/13to CG) and the Russian Scientific Foundation (14-35-00060 to TS). Authors JFS and BR are supported by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (grant 2014.0102), the Swedish Research Council (grant 621-2012-3673), and the Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation (grant MT2014-0007). The author NH was supported by the LifeWatch Foundation. The author TS was supported by the Charity Foundation “Way Out”.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Gillberg, Professor Christopher
• Authors: Orekhova, E. V., Sysoeva, O. V., Schneiderman, J. F., Lundström, S., Galuta, I. A., Goiaeva, D. E., Prokofyev, A. O., Riaz, B., Keeler, C., Hadjikhani, N., Gillberg, C., and Stroganova, T. A.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Health & Wellbeing > Mental Health and Wellbeing
• Journal Name: Scientific Reports
• Publisher: Nature Research
• ISSN: 2045-2322
• ISSN (Online): 2045-2322
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2018 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Scientific reports 8:8451
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License