Cortico-subcortical β burst dynamics underlying movement cancellation in humans

Abstract
Data availability
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Abstract

Dominant neuroanatomical models hold that humans regulate their movements via loop-like cortico-subcortical networks, which include the subthalamic nucleus (STN), motor thalamus, and sensorimotor cortex (SMC). Inhibitory commands across these networks are purportedly sent via transient, burst-like signals in the β frequency (15-29Hz). However, since human depth-recording studies are typically limited to one recording site, direct evidence for this proposition is hitherto lacking. Here, we present simultaneous multi-site recordings from SMC and either STN or motor thalamus in humans performing the stop-signal task. In line with their purported function as inhibitory signals, subcortical β-bursts were increased on successful stop-trials. STN bursts in particular were followed within 50ms by increased β-bursting over SMC. Moreover, between-site comparisons (including in a patient with simultaneous recordings from SMC, thalamus, and STN) confirmed that β-bursts in STN temporally precede thalamic β-bursts. This highly unique set of recordings provides empirical evidence for the role of β-bursts in conveying inhibitory commands along long-proposed cortico-subcortical networks underlying movement regulation in humans.

Data availability

All data analyzed during this study and scripts used for analyses are available on Dryad.

The following data sets were generated

(2021) Cortico-subcortical β burst dynamics underlying movement cancellation in humans
Dryad Digital Repository, doi:10.5061/dryad.gf1vhhmq0.

https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.gf1vhhmq0

Article and author information

Author details

Darcy A Diesburg

Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, United States

For correspondence
darcy-diesburg@uiowa.edu

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-3489-7624
Jeremy DW Greenlee

Department of Neurosurgery, University of Iowa, Iowa City, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-8481-8517
Jan R Wessel

Department of Neurology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, United States

For correspondence
jan-wessel@uiowa.edu

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-7298-6601

Funding

National Institutes of Health (T32GSMC08540)

Darcy A Diesburg

National Institutes of Health (R01NS117753)

Jan R Wessel

National Science Foundation (CAREER 1752355)

Jan R Wessel

Carver College of Medicine & Iowa Neuroscience Institute (Research Program of Excellence Funding)

Jeremy DW Greenlee

Carver College of Medicine & Iowa Neuroscience Institute (Research Program of Excellence Funding)

Jan R Wessel

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Ethics

Human subjects: Research participants signed a written informed consent document during a clinic visit prior to surgery. Experimental protocols were approved by the University of Iowa's Institutional Review Board (#201402720).

Copyright

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.