title: Circuits generating corticomuscular coherence investigated using a biophysically based computational model. I. Descending systems.
abstract: Recordings of motor cortical activity typically show oscillations around 10 and 20 Hz; only those at 20 Hz are coherent with electromyograms (EMGs) of contralateral muscles. Experimental measurements of the phase difference between approximately 20-Hz oscillations in cortex and muscle are often difficult to reconcile with the known corticomuscular conduction delays. We investigated the generation of corticomuscular coherence further using a biophysically based computational model, which included a pool of motoneurons connected to motor units that generated EMGs. Delays estimated from the coherence phase-frequency relationship were sensitive to the width of the motor unit action potentials. In addition, the nonlinear properties of the motoneurons could produce complex, oscillatory phase-frequency relationships. This was due to the interaction of cortical inputs to the motoneuron pool with the intrinsic rhythmicity of the motoneurons; the response appeared more linear if the firing rate of motoneurons varied widely across the pool, such as during a strong contraction. The model was able to reproduce the smaller than expected delays between cortex and muscles seen in experiments. However, the model could not reproduce the constant phase over a frequency band sometimes seen in experiments, nor the lack of around 10-Hz coherence. Simple propagation of oscillations from cortex to muscle thus cannot completely explain the observed corticomuscular coherence.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Henry Wellcome Building, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4HH, UK.
authors.forename: Elizabeth R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Stuart N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Baker
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001703:Biophysics; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003712:Dendrites / Q000502:physiology; D004525:Efferent Pathways / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D004576:Electromyography; D019706:Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000294:innervation* / Q000502:physiology*