Microneurography as a tool to develop decoding algorithms for peripheral neuro-controlled hand prostheses.

BACKGROUND: The usability of dexterous hand prostheses is still hampered by the lack of natural and effective control strategies. A decoding strategy based on the processing of descending efferent neural signals recorded using peripheral neural interfaces could be a solution to such limitation. Unfortunately, this choice is still restrained by the reduced knowledge of the dynamics of human efferent signals recorded from the nerves and associated to hand movements. FINDINGS: To address this issue, in this work we acquired neural efferent activities from healthy subjects performing hand-related tasks using ultrasound-guided microneurography, a minimally invasive technique, which employs needles, inserted percutaneously, to record from nerve fibers. These signals allowed us to identify neural features correlated with force and velocity of finger movements that were used to decode motor intentions. We developed computational models, which confirmed the potential translatability of these results showing how these neural features hold in absence of feedback and when implantable intrafascicular recording, rather than microneurography, is performed. CONCLUSIONS: Our results are a proof of principle that microneurography could be used as a useful tool to assist the development of more effective hand prostheses.

The spontaneous fluctuation of the excitability of a single node modulates the internodes connectivity: a TMS-EEG study.

Brain effective connectivity can be tracked by cerebral recruitments evoked by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), as measured by simultaneous electroencephalography (TMS-EEG). When TMS is targeting the primary motor area, motor evoked potentials (MEPs) can be collected from the "target" muscles. The aim of this study was to measure whether or not effective brain connectivity changes with the excitability level of the corticospinal motor pathway (CSMP) as parameterized by MEP amplitude. After averaging two subgroups of EEG-evoked responses corresponding to high and low MEP amplitudes, we calculated the individual differences between them and submitted the grand average to sLORETA algorithm obtaining localized regions of interest (RoIs). Statistical differences of RoI recruitment strength between low and high CSMP excitation was assessed in single subjects. Preceding the feedback arrival, neural recruitment for stronger CSMP activation were weaker at 6-10 ms of homotopic sensorimotor areas BA3/4/5 of the right nonstimulated hemisphere (trend), weaker at 18-25 ms of left parietal BA2/3/40, and stronger at 26-32 ms of bilateral frontal motor areas BA6/8. The proposed method enables the tracking of brain network connectivity during stimulation of one node by measuring the strength of the connected recruited node activations. Spontaneous increases of the excitation of the node originating the transmission within the hand control network gave rise to dynamic recruitment patterns with opposite behaviors, weaker in homotopic and parietal circuits, stronger in frontal ones. The effective connectivity within bilateral circuits orchestrating hand control appeared dynamically modulated in time even in resting state as probed by TMS.

Effective Intracerebral Connectivity in Acute Stroke: A TMS-EEG Study.

Stroke is a major cause of disability because of its motor and cognitive sequelae even when the acute phase of stabilization of vital parameters is overcome. The most important improvements occur in the first 8-12 weeks after stroke, indicating that it is crucial to improve our understanding of the dynamics of phenomena occurring in this time window to prospectively target rehabilitation procedures from the earliest stages after the event. Here, we studied the intracortical excitability properties of delivering transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to the primary motor cortex (M1) of left and right hemispheres in 17 stroke patients who suffered a mono-lateral left hemispheric stroke, excluding pure cortical damage. All patients were studied within 10 days of symptom onset. TMS-evoked potentials (TEPs) were collected via a TMS-compatible electroencephalogram system (TMS-EEG) concurrently with motor-evoked responses (MEPs) induced in the contralateral first dorsal interosseous muscle. Comparison with age-matched healthy volunteers was made by collecting the same bilateral-stimulation data in nine healthy volunteers as controls. Excitability in the acute phase revealed relevant changes in the relationship between left lesioned and contralesionally right hemispheric homologous areas both for TEPs and MEPs. While the paretic hand displayed reduced MEPs compared to the non-paretic hand and to healthy volunteers, TEPs revealed an overexcitable lesioned hemisphere with respect to both healthy volunteers and the contra-lesion side. Our quantitative results advance the understanding of the impairment of intracortical inhibitory networks. The neuronal dysfunction most probably changes the excitatory/inhibitory on-center off-surround organization that supports already acquired learning and reorganization phenomena that support recovery from stroke sequelae.

Intraneural stimulation elicits discrimination of textural features by artificial fingertip in intact and amputee humans.

Restoration of touch after hand amputation is a desirable feature of ideal prostheses. Here, we show that texture discrimination can be artificially provided in human subjects by implementing a neuromorphic real-time mechano-neuro-transduction (MNT), which emulates to some extent the firing dynamics of SA1 cutaneous afferents. The MNT process was used to modulate the temporal pattern of electrical spikes delivered to the human median nerve via percutaneous microstimulation in four intact subjects and via implanted intrafascicular stimulation in one transradial amputee. Both approaches allowed the subjects to reliably discriminate spatial coarseness of surfaces as confirmed also by a hybrid neural model of the median nerve. Moreover, MNT-evoked EEG activity showed physiologically plausible responses that were superimposable in time and topography to the ones elicited by a natural mechanical tactile stimulation. These findings can open up novel opportunities for sensory restoration in the next generation of neuro-prosthetic hands.

Cortical brain connectivity evaluated by graph theory in dementia: a correlation study between functional and structural data.

A relatively new approach to brain function in neuroscience is the "functional connectivity", namely the synchrony in time of activity in anatomically-distinct but functionally-collaborating brain regions. On the other hand, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is a recently developed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based technique with the capability to detect brain structural connection with fractional anisotropy (FA) identification. FA decrease has been observed in the corpus callosum of subjects with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI, an AD prodromal stage). Corpus callosum splenium DTI abnormalities are thought to be associated with functional disconnections among cortical areas. This study aimed to investigate possible correlations between structural damage, measured by MRI-DTI, and functional abnormalities of brain integration, measured by characteristic path length detected in resting state EEG source activity (40 participants: 9 healthy controls, 10 MCI, 10 mild AD, 11 moderate AD). For each subject, undirected and weighted brain network was built to evaluate graph core measures. eLORETA lagged linear connectivity values were used as weight of the edges of the network. Results showed that callosal FA reduction is associated to a loss of brain interhemispheric functional connectivity characterized by increased delta and decreased alpha path length. These findings suggest that "global" (average network shortest path length representing an index of how efficient is the information transfer between two parts of the network) functional measure can reflect the reduction of fiber connecting the two hemispheres as revealed by DTI analysis and also anticipate in time this structural loss.

Effects of hemochromatosis and transferrin gene mutations on iron dyshomeostasis, liver dysfunction and on the risk of Alzheimer's disease.

It is now accepted that transition metals, such as iron and copper, are involved in the pathogenesis of the Alzheimer's disease (AD) through their participation in toxic oxidative phenomena. In this context, hemochromatosis (Hfe) and transferrin (Tf) genes are of particular importance, since they play a key role in iron homeostasis. Also, signs of liver distress which accompany metal dysmetabolisms have been shown to be linked to AD. In order to investigate whether and how all these factors are interconnected, in this study we have explored the relationship of the gene variants of Hfe H63D and C282Y and of Tf C2 with serum markers of iron status (iron, ferritin, TF, TF-saturation, ceruloplasmin -CP-, CP and TF serum concentrations (CP/TF) ratio), and of liver function (albumin, transaminases, prothrombin time-prothrombin time (PT)) in a sample of 160 AD patients and 79 healthy elderly controls. Albumin resulted in lower, PT longer and AST/ALT higher ratios in AD patients than in controls, indicating a distress of the liver. Also TF was lower and ferritin higher in AD. Multiple logistic regression backward analyses, performed to evaluate the effects of our biochemical variables upon the probability of developing AD, revealed that a one-unit TF serum-decrease increases the probability of AD by 80%, a one-unit albumin serum-decrease reduces this probability by 20%, and a one-unit increase of AST/ALT ratio generates a 4-fold probability increase. Patients who were carriers of the H63D mutation showed higher levels of iron, lower levels of TF and CP and higher CP/TF ratios, a panel resembling hemochromatosis. This picture was found neither in H63D non-carrier patients, nor in healthy controls. Our results suggest the existence of a link between Hfe mutations and iron abnormalities that increases the probability of developing AD when accompanied by a distress of the liver.

Motor cortex excitability in Alzheimer's disease: a transcranial magnetic stimulation follow-up study.

Transient cognitive and behavioral stabilization of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the main goal of acetylcholinesterase inhibitor (AChEI) therapy. Response to treatment is variable and it is usually assessed clinically via neuropsychological scales. Functional neuroimaging could ideally permit the objective evaluation of the topographic correlates of therapy on brain functioning, but is expensive and little available on a large scale. On the other hand, neurophysiological methods such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) could offer an alternative, low-cost and risk free tool of assessing response to treatment in AD. Previous TMS studies have demonstrated hyperexcitability and asymptomatic motor cortex reorganization in the early stages of AD in patients with normal motor function. The aim of this study was to compare motor cortex functionality in 10 AD patients before and after long-term AchEIs therapy in order to monitor potential drug-related changes in cortical excitability and organization. Examined parameters of motor cortex physiology were found to be unchanged in patients with stabilized cognitive performance during the therapy. TMS, along with clinical, neuropsychological, and neuroimaging data, could be an inexpensive measure of biological progression in AD and it might supplement traditional methods to assess the effects of therapy.

Mobile phone emission modulates inter-hemispheric functional coupling of EEG alpha rhythms in elderly compared to young subjects.

OBJECTIVE: It has been reported that GSM electromagnetic fields (GSM-EMFs) of mobile phones modulate--after a prolonged exposure--inter-hemispheric synchronization of temporal and frontal resting electroencephalographic (EEG) rhythms in normal young subjects [Vecchio et al., 2007]. Here we tested the hypothesis that this effect can vary on physiological aging as a sign of changes in the functional organization of cortical neural synchronization. METHODS: Eyes-closed resting EEG data were recorded in 16 healthy elderly subjects and 5 young subjects in the two conditions of the previous reference study. The GSM device was turned on (45 min) in one condition and was turned off (45 min) in the other condition. Spectral coherence evaluated the inter-hemispheric synchronization of EEG rhythms at the following bands: delta (about 2-4 Hz), theta (about 4-6 Hz), alpha 1 (about 6-8 Hz), alpha 2 (about 8-10 Hz), and alpha 3 (about 10-12 Hz). The aging effects were investigated comparing the inter-hemispheric EEG coherence in the elderly subjects vs. a young group formed by 15 young subjects (10 young subjects of the reference study; Vecchio et al., 2007). RESULTS: Compared with the young subjects, the elderly subjects showed a statistically significant (p<0.001) increment of the inter-hemispheric coherence of frontal and temporal alpha rhythms (about 8-12 Hz) during the GSM condition. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that GSM-EMFs of a mobile phone affect inter-hemispheric synchronization of the dominant (alpha) EEG rhythms as a function of the physiological aging. SIGNIFICANCE: This study provides further evidence that physiological aging is related to changes in the functional organization of cortical neural synchronization.