Biomedical subjects

Yohei Tamura

Publications and source records attributed to Yohei Tamura.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Objective examination for two-point stimulation using a somatosensory oddball paradigm: an MEG study.

OBJECTIVE: To establish an objective two-point discrimination test using magnetoencephalography (MEG). METHODS: First, we determined the discrimination threshold (DT) of the two-points. In the first experiment, we applied 0.9DT as standard stimuli, and 0.8DT, 1.1DT and 2DT as deviant stimuli in Conditions 1, 2 and 3, respectively. In the second experiment, we used 2DT and 0.9DT as the standard and deviant stimuli, respectively, in Condition 1. We applied two-stimuli that subjects felt as definitely one point or two-points in Condition 2 and 3, respectively. RESULTS: In the first experiment, the components peaking around 30-70 and 150-250ms following deviant stimuli were significantly larger than those following standard stimuli. Considering the peak latency, these components seem consistent with the magnetic mismatch field (MMF). In the second experiment, the MMF was recorded only in Condition 1. Therefore, it is considered that the MMF was recorded only when subjects automatically discriminate one point from two-points stimuli. CONCLUSIONS: This novel method can be used in neurophysiological two-point discrimination tests without the need to rely on the examiners' skills and subjects' reactions. SIGNIFICANCE: We confirmed that our new method could be used for the objective examination of two-point spatial discrimination.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Higher anticipated force required a stronger inhibitory process in go/nogo tasks.

OBJECTIVE: We investigated the effect of the inhibitory process with increasing muscle force on event-related potentials (ERPs) and motor evoked potentials (MEPs). METHODS: The subjects performed a S1-S2 paradigm with go/nogo tasks. S1 was an auditory tone burst, and S2 was an electrical stimulation applied to the second (go stimuli) or fifth digit (nogo stimuli) of the left hand. The recordings were conducted at 3 force levels; 10, 30 and 50% maximal voluntary contraction (MVC). After the presentation of S2, the subjects were instructed to adjust their force level to match the target line with a force trajectory line in only the go trials. RESULTS: Nogo-N140 was significantly more negative in amplitude than go-N140 in all conditions, and became larger with increasing muscle force. The MEP, which was recorded at 150 ms after S2, became significantly smaller with increasing muscle force in nogo trials, whereas it became larger in go trials. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicated that stronger inhibitory cerebral activity was needed for a nogo stimulus, in the case where a stronger response was needed for a go stimulus. SIGNIFICANCE: The present study showed a significant relationship between cortical inhibitory process and muscle force.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

PubMed2006

The characteristics of the nogo-N140 component in somatosensory go/nogo tasks.

Nogo-related brain potentials may not be dependent on sensory modalities but reflect common neural activities specific to the inhibitory process. Recent studies reported that nogo potentials were elicited by not only visual and auditory but also somatosensory stimulation. However, the characteristics of this nogo potential evoked by somatosensory stimulation have been unclear because of the small number of reports. In the present study, therefore, to determine the characteristics of this potential, the effects of stimulus site and response hand were investigated. Electrical stimulation was delivered to the second and fifth digit of one hand, and the subjects had to respond to a go stimulus by pushing a button with the thumb contralateral to the stimulated side as quickly as possible. The amplitudes of the nogo-N140 component (N140 evoked by the nogo stimuli), which is very similar to the nogo-N2 components following visual and auditory stimulation, were unrelated to the stimulated digits, the second and fifth digit of the left and right hand. However, differences between go and nogo ERPs were significantly larger in the hemisphere contralateral to the response hand than the ipsilateral hemisphere. This result was inconsistent with visual and auditory go/nogo studies showing a right-hemisphere dominance or bilateral activities in nogo trials. Therefore, nogo-N140 should be considered to reflect the inhibitory process especially in the hemisphere contralateral to the response hand and the sensory modality dependency of nogo potentials.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

PubMed2005

Brain processing of the signals ascending through unmyelinated C fibers in humans: an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

Event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to investigate brain processing of the signals ascending from peripheral C and Adelta fibers evoked by phasic laser stimuli on the right hand in humans. The stimulation of both C and Adelta nociceptors activated the bilateral thalamus, bilateral secondary somatosensory cortex, right (ipsilateral) middle insula, and bilateral Brodmann's area (BA) 24/32, with the majority of activity found in the posterior portion of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). However, magnitude of activity in the right (ipsilateral) BA32/8/6, including dorsal parts in the anterior portion of the ACC (aACC) and pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA), and the bilateral anterior insula was significantly stronger following the stimulation of C nociceptors than Adelta nociceptors. It was concluded that the activation of C nociceptors, related to second pain, evokes different brain processing from that of Adelta nociceptors, related to first pain, probably due to the differences in the emotional and motivational aspects of either pain, which are mainly related to the aACC, pre-SMA, and anterior insula.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Electrophysiological studies on human pain perception.

OBJECTIVE: We reviewed the recent progress in electrophysiological studies using electroencephalography (EEG), magnetoencephalography (MEG) and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on human pain perception. METHODS: For recording activities following A delta fiber stimulation relating to first pain, several kinds of lasers such as CO2, Tm:YAG and argon lasers are now widely used. The activity is frequently termed laser evoked potential (LEP), and we reviewed previous basic and clinical reports on LEP. We also introduced our new method, epidermal stimulation (ES), which is useful for recording brain activities by the signals ascending through A delta fibers. For recording activities following C fiber stimulation relating to second pain, several methods have been used but weak CO2 laser stimuli applied to tiny areas of the skin were recently used. RESULTS: EEG and MEG findings following C fiber stimulation were similar to those following A delta fiber stimulation except for a longer latency. Finally, we reviewed the effect of rTMS on acute pain perception. rTMS alleviated acute pain induced by intracutaneous injection of capsaicin, which activated C fibers, but it enhanced acute pain induced by laser stimulation, which activated A delta fibers. CONCLUSIONS: One promising approach in the near future is to analyze the change of a frequency band. This method will probably be used for evaluation of continuous tonic pain such as cancer pain, which evoked response studies cannot evaluate.

Brain↗

PubMed2005

Nemaline rods in chorea-acanthocytosis.

In chorea-acanthocytosis, a neurological disorder associated with multisystem degeneration, amyotrophy and peripheral neuropathy are sometimes conspicuous. We describe a patient with chorea-acanthocytosis who showed distributed nemaline rods in biopsied muscle. It has been suggested that in chorea-acanthocytosis, the muscle membranous structures are disordered, and our finding may be attributable to this underlying myopathic condition.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Functional relationship between human rolandic oscillations and motor cortical excitability: an MEG study.

Synchronization and desynchronization of the neural rhythm in the brain play an important role in the orchestration of perception, motor action and conscious experience. Based on the results of electrocorticographic and magnetoencephalographic (MEG) recordings, it has been considered that human rolandic oscillations originate in the anterior bank of the central sulcus (20-Hz rhythm) and the postcentral cortex (10-Hz rhythm): the 20-Hz oscillation is closely related to motor function, while the 10-Hz rhythm is attributed mainly to sensory function. To test whether the rolandic oscillations are functionally relevant to the motor cortical excitability, we examined effects of 1-Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of the left primary motor cortex (M1) on movement-related changes of the rolandic oscillations in 12 normal subjects. MEG data recorded during brisk extension of the right index finger in two different sessions (with and without rTMS conditioning) were compared. Motor-evoked potential (MEP) of the right hand muscle was also measured before and after rTMS to assess the motor cortical excitability. We found that 1-Hz rTMS over M1 significantly reduced the movement-related rebound of the 20-Hz oscillation in association with decreased motor cortical excitability. In particular, movement-related rebound of the 20-Hz rhythm was closely tied with motor cortical excitability. These findings further strengthen the notion of functional relevance of 20-Hz cortical oscillation to motor cortical excitability. In the framework of previous studies, the decrease in movement-related rebound may be regarded as a compensatory reaction to the inhibited cortical activity.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Effects of ISI and stimulus probability on event-related go/nogo potentials after somatosensory stimulation.

The present study investigated the characteristics of the middle-latency negative potential of event-related potentials (ERPs) using somatosensory go/nogo tasks. We manipulated interstimulus interval (ISI) in Experiment 1 and stimulus probability in Experiment 2 and analyzed the subtracted difference waveform resulting from subtraction of the ERP evoked by the go stimulation from that evoked by the nogo stimulation. In Experiment 1, the peak latency of negativity became significantly longer as the ISI increased, but the peak amplitude was unchanged. The reaction time (RT) was longer with increasing ISI. In Experiment 2, manipulation of the stimulus probability yielded an increase in peak amplitude with decreasing probability of the nogo stimulus, but did not affect the latency. The RT increased as the probability of a nogo stimulus rose. Because manipulation of the ISI and stimulus probability elicited different brain activities, we hypothesized that manipulation of the ISI elicited a delay of the stimulus evaluation process including response inhibition, and that stimulus probability significantly affected the strength of the response inhibition process.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Serial processing in the human somatosensory system.

Although numerous anatomical and electrophysiological findings in animal studies have supported a hierarchical scheme of somatosensory processing, precise activation timings of each cortical area are not known. Therefore we examined the temporal relationship of activities among multiple cortical areas using magnetoencephalography in humans. We found activations in Brodmann's areas 3b, 4, 1, 5 and the secondary somatosensory cortex region in the right hemisphere following transcutaneous electrical stimulation of the dorsum of the left hand. The mean onset latencies of each cortical activity were 14.4, 14.5, 18.0, 22.4 and 21.7 ms, respectively. The differences of onset latencies among these activations indicated the serial mode of processing both through the postcentral gyrus and through the primary and secondary somatosensory cortices.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Temporal discrimination threshold on various parts of the body.

The temporal discrimination threshold (TDT) of various parts of the body was investigated in 35 healthy volunteers, and the effect of aging on the TDT was studied in 80 subjects (aged 18-82 years). Ascending (ATDT) and descending (DTDT) TDT values were measured in 13 areas using a pair of electrical stimuli. Both ATDT and DTDT differed significantly among the body parts (P < 0.01, one-way repeated ANOVA), and the TDT was shortest on the index finger and longest on the lower leg, where it was approximately 156% of that on the finger. There was no difference of the TDT value with gender or between sides. There was no effect of aging on the TDT in subjects aged 18-64 years, but the value was prolonged in subjects over 65 years. We suggest that the TDT difference among body parts is mainly due to the difference in sensory processes in the central nervous system, and that it may provide information about changes in the system related to aging.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

Cognitive processes in two-point discrimination: an ERP study.

OBJECTIVE: To elucidate the temporal features of the cognitive process in two-point discrimination (TPD). METHODS: We measured somatosensory event-related potentials (ERPs) in 9 subjects during the TPD task, in which we provided a pair of electrical pulses simultaneously, altering the distance between the electrodes. We analyzed the TPD-related ERPs and investigated the relationship between the potentials and the subjects' judgments. RESULTS: During the TPD task, a negative potential approximately 140 ms after the stimulation (N140) was enhanced as compared to a stimulus counting task. Two late positive components, LPC-1 and LPC-2, whose peak latencies were 300 and 500 ms, respectively, were identified only in the TPD task. The LPC-1 was recorded dominantly in the fronto-central area, while the LPC-2 was detected dominantly in the centro-parietal area. The amplitude of the LPC-2 was significantly modulated by the degree of consistency in the subjects' judgment. On the other hand, these ERP components did not show significant difference between the alternate judgments, i.e. 'one-point' or 'two-point' judgment. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that the N140 is related to the attention toward the stimulation. The LPC-1 and LPC-2 are likely to correspond to the processes represented by P3a and P3b, based on their temporal and spatial behavior.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Movements modulate cortical activities evoked by noxious stimulation.

To evaluate the effects of movement on cortical activities evoked by noxious stimulation, we recorded magnetoencephalography following noxious YAG laser stimulation applied to the dorsum of the left hand in normal volunteers. Results of the present study can be summarized as follows: (1) active movement of the hand ipsilateral to the side of noxious stimulation resulted in significant attenuation of both primary and secondary somatosensory cortices (SI and SII) in the hemisphere contralateral to the stimulated hand (cSI and cSII). Activity in the hemisphere ipsilateral to the side of stimulation (iSII) was not affected. (2) Active movement of the hand contralateral to the side of noxious stimulation resulted in significant attenuation of cSII. Activity in cSI and iSII was not affected. (3) Passive movement of the hand ipsilateral to the side of noxious stimulation resulted in significant attenuation of cSI. Activity in cSII and iSII was not affected. (4) Visual analogue scale (VAS) changes showed a similar pattern to the amplitude changes of cSII. These results suggest that activities in three regions are modulated by movements differently. Inhibition in cSI was considered to be mainly due to an interaction in SI by the signals ascending from the stimulated and movement hand. Inhibition in cSII was considered to be mainly due to particular brain activities relating to motor execution and/or movement execution associated with a specific attention effect. In addition, since VAS changes showed a similar relationship with the amplitude changes of cSII, cSII may play a role in pain perception.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Effects of 1-Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on acute pain induced by capsaicin.

The aim of this study is to investigate the efficacy of 1-Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over the primary motor cortex (M1) on acute pain induced by intradermal capsaicin injection and to elucidate its mechanisms by single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). We compared time courses of a subjective scale of pain induced by intradermal capsaicin injection in seven normal subjects under three different conditions: rTMS over M1, sham stimulation, and control condition (natural course of acute pain without any stimulation). In ten normal subjects, using SPECT, we also studied differences in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) after capsaicin injection between two conditions: rTMS over M1 and the control condition. rTMS over M1 induced earlier recovery from acute pain compared with the sham or control conditions. Under rTMS over the right M1 condition compared with the control condition, the SPECT study demonstrated a significant relative rCBF decrease in the right medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) corresponding to Brodmann area (BA) 9, and a significant increase in the caudal part of the right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) corresponding to BA24 and the left premotor area (BA6). A region-of-interest analysis showed significant correlation between pain reduction and rCBF changes in both BA9 and BA24. We conclude that rTMS over M1 should have beneficial effects on acute pain, and its effects must be caused by functional changes of MPFC and caudal ACC.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Central mechanisms for two-point discrimination in humans.

We studied the cognitive mechanisms for two-point discrimination (TPD) in 11 normal subjects, using electrical pulses. We used six ball-shaped electrodes placed in line on the dorsal surface of the left hand, and two-point was stimulated by two electrodes randomly selected. We measured the reaction time for TPD and calculated the percentage of correct responses for each two-point stimulation. The subjects' response was significantly affected by the preceding stimuli as well as the distance of the stimuli: for a two-point stimulus condition, subjects tended to feel the stimuli as two-point when the distance between the stimuli was longer than that of preceding stimuli, whereas they felt the stimuli as one-point when the distance was shorter than that of the preceding stimuli. The present results indicate that the TPD process involved evaluation of the distance between the stimuli relatively to that of the preceding stimuli, as well as evaluation of absolute distance between the stimuli.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Sensory perception during sleep in humans: a magnetoencephalograhic study.

We reported the changes of brain responses during sleep following auditory, visual, somatosensory and painful somatosensory stimulation by using magnetoencephalography (MEG). Surprisingly, very large changes were found under all conditions, although the changes in each were not the same. However, there are some common findings. Short-latency components, reflecting the primary cortical activities generated in the primary sensory cortex for each stimulus kind, show no significant change, or are slightly prolonged in latency and decreased in amplitude. These findings indicate that the neuronal activities in the primary sensory cortex are not affected or are only slightly inhibited during sleep. By contrast, middle- and long-latency components, probably reflecting secondary activities, are much affected during sleep. Since the dipole location is changed (auditory stimulation), unchanged (somatosensory stimulation) or vague (visual stimulation) between the state of being awake and asleep, different regions responsible for such changes of activity may be one explanation, although the activated regions are very close to each other. The enhancement of activities probably indicates two possibilities, an increase in the activity of excitatory systems during sleep, or a decrease in the activity of some inhibitory systems, which are active in the awake state. We have no evidence to support either, but we prefer the latter, since it is difficult to consider why neuronal activities would be increased during sleep.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Pain processing within the primary somatosensory cortex in humans.

To investigate the processing of noxious stimuli within the primary somatosensory cortex (SI), we recorded magnetoencephalography following noxious epidermal electrical stimulation (ES) and innocuous transcutaneous electrical stimulation (TS) applied to the dorsum of the left hand. TS activated two sources sequentially within SI: one in the posterior bank of the central sulcus and another in the crown of the postcentral gyrus, corresponding to Brodmann's areas 3b and 1, respectively. Activities from area 3b consisted of 20- and 30-ms responses. Activities from area 1 consisted of three components peaking at 26, 36 and 49 ms. ES activated one source within SI whose location and orientation were similar to those of the TS-activated area 1 source. Activities from this source consisted of three components peaking at 88, 98 and 109 ms, later by 60 ms than the corresponding TS responses. ES and TS subsequently activated a similar region in the upper bank of the sylvian fissure, corresponding to the secondary somatosensory cortex (SII). The onset latency of the SII activity following ES (109 ms) was later by 29 ms than that of the first SI response (80 ms). Likewise, the onset latency of SII activity following TS (52 ms) was later by 35 ms than that of area 1 of SI (17 ms). Therefore, our results showed that the processing of noxious and innocuous stimuli is similar with respect to the source locations and activation timings within SI and SII except that there were no detectable activations within area 3b following noxious stimulation.

Adult↗