RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Voluntary motor commands are preferentially released during restricted sensorimotor beta rhythm phases
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 776393
DO 10.1101/776393
A1 Sara J Hussain
A1 Mary K Vollmer
A1 Iñaki Iturrate
A1 Romain Quentin
YR 2021
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/03/09/776393.abstract
AB Voluntary movement requires motor commands to be released from motor cortex (M1) and transmitted to spinal motoneurons and effector muscles. M1 activity oscillates between brief excitatory and inhibitory states that correlate with single neuron spiking rates. Here, we asked if the motor commands needed to produce voluntary, self-paced finger movements are preferentially released from M1 during restricted phases of this ongoing sensorimotor oscillatory activity. 21 healthy adults performed a self-paced finger movement task while EEG and EMG signals were recorded. For each finger movement, we identified the individual sensorimotor mu (8-12 Hz) and beta (13-35 Hz) oscillatory phase at the estimated time of motor command release from M1 by subtracting individually-defined MEP latencies from EMG-determined movement onset times. We report that motor commands were preferentially released at ~120° along the beta cycle but were released uniformly across the mu cycle. These results suggest that motor commands are preferentially released from M1 near optimal peak phases of endogenous beta rhythms.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.