title: Interhemispheric connectivity during bimanual isometric force generation.
abstract: Interhemispheric interactions through the corpus callosum play an important role in the control of bimanual forces. However, the extent to which physiological connections between primary motor cortices are modulated during increasing levels of bimanual force generation in intact humans remains poorly understood. Here we studied coherence between electroencephalographic (EEG) signals and the ipsilateral cortical silent period (iSP), two well-known measures of interhemispheric connectivity between motor cortices, during unilateral and bilateral 10%, 40%, and 70% of maximal isometric voluntary contraction (MVC) into index finger abduction. We found that EEG-EEG coherence in the alpha frequency band decreased while the iSP area increased during bilateral compared with unilateral 40% and 70% but not 10% of MVC. Decreases in coherence in the alpha frequency band correlated with increases in the iSP area, and subjects who showed this inverse relation were able to maintain more steady bilateral muscle contractions. To further examine the relationship between the iSP and coherence we electrically stimulated the ulnar nerve at the wrist at the alpha frequency. Electrical stimulation increased coherence in the alpha frequency band and decreased the iSP area during bilateral 70% of MVC. Altogether, our findings demonstrate an inverse relation between alpha oscillations and the iSP during strong levels of bimanual force generation. We suggest that interactions between neural pathways mediating alpha oscillatory activity and transcallosal inhibition between motor cortices might contribute to the steadiness of strong bilateral isometric muscle contractions in intact humans.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological Surgery, The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, University of Miami, Miami, Florida; and.
authors.forename: Jinyi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Long
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological Surgery, The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, University of Miami, Miami, Florida; and.
authors.forename: Toshiki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tazoe
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University Medical School, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Demetris S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Soteropoulos
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological Surgery, The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, University of Miami, Miami, Florida; and perezmo@miami.edu.
authors.forename: Monica A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Perez
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000513:Alpha Rhythm; D003337:Corpus Callosum / Q000502:physiology; D019054:Evoked Potentials, Motor; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006225:Hand / Q000294:innervation / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D009119:Muscle Contraction; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000294:innervation / Q000502:physiology
keywords: bilateral control; bilateral force; cortico-cortical coupling; ipsilateral cortical silent period; voluntary movement