深度脑刺激的精确闭环去同步控制

深度脑刺激(DBS)是治疗帕金森症和癫痫等神经疾病的有效方法之一.针对其开环控制的缺点,以MorrisLecar神经元为节点模拟病态同步神经元网络,提出了基于H∞变论域模糊的DBS闭环控制方法,实现了神经元网络的精确去同步控制.采用变论域模糊逼近神经元非线性动态和H∞抑制逼近误差,利用李雅普诺夫稳定性理论证明控制算法的稳定性并进行了仿真分析.仿真结果验证了所提方案的有效性及鲁棒性,该方法可作为由病态同步引起的神经疾病的一种潜在电刺激治疗方案.     

电场对中间神经元亚线性树突整合的调制作用

中间神经元的树突形态大多呈现出空间对称性分布,使得电场在其胞体附近引起的膜电位极化作用微弱,因此大多数研究认为电场对中间神经元难以产生调制作用.然而,电场在中间神经元末端的树突棘位置能够诱发较强的膜电压极化效应,远端的树突极化是否以及如何影响中间神经元的树突整合特性尚不十分清楚.为此本文针对分散和集中空间分布的AMPA类型突触输入,研究了电场对中间神经元全局和局部亚线性树突整合特性的调制作用.为了描述电场作用下树突对AMPA突触输入积分的潜在规律,首先建立了描述中间神经元输入-输出关系的简化电路模型,此模型具有多个被动树突分支且以不均匀细胞外膜电势表征电场诱发的极化效应;其次,基于奇异摄动理论分析了电场调节下的亚线性树突整合的动力学特性,推导出了可描述局部和全局树突整合的阈下输入-输出关系的渐近解析表达式.理论分析结果表明,电场通过改变AMPA突触输入的驱动力调节中间神经元局部以及全局亚线性树突整合特性,调制效应依赖于电场对远端树突的极化程度.相比于局部树突整合,电场对全局树突整合调制更敏感.最后,利用电场作用下具有真实树突形态的海马CA1区中间神经元模型仿真验证了理论分析结果.     

Ghostburster模型鞍结分岔点附近放电模式的转迁控制

在不同的电流刺激下,ghostburster模型表现出周期放电、混沌簇放电、周期簇放电等多种放电模式.其中,周期放电和混沌簇放电之间的转迁是通过极限环的鞍结分岔实现的.应用washout滤波器实现了ghostburster模型鞍结分岔点周围放电模式的转迁;并通过快慢系统分解方法分析了放电模式转迁的内在机制.研究发现快子系统固定点的鞍结分岔和快子系统从周期一极限环转换到周期二极限环的临界点在树突产生不完全放电过程中起到关键作用.Washout滤波器的加入改变了树突膜电位极大值的分岔点的位置,从而改变了ghostburster模型的放电模式.     

Modulation of electroencephalograph activity by manual acupuncture stimulation in healthy subjects:An autoregressive spectral analysis

To investigate whether and how manual acupuncture(MA) modulates brain activities,we design an experiment where acupuncture at acupoint ST36 of the right leg is used to obtain electroencephalograph(EEG) signals in healthy subjects.We adopt the autoregressive(AR) Burg method to estimate the power spectrum of EEG signals and analyze the relative powers in delta(0 Hz-4 Hz),theta(4 Hz-8 Hz),alpha(8 Hz-13 Hz),and beta(13 Hz-30 Hz) bands.Our results show that MA at ST36 can significantly increase the EEG slow wave relative power(delta band) and reduce the fast wave relative powers(alpha and beta bands),while there are no statistical differences in theta band relative power between different acupuncture states.In order to quantify the ratio of slow to fast wave EEG activity,we compute the power ratio index.It is found that the MA can significantly increase the power ratio index,especially in frontal and central lobes.All the results highlight the modulation of brain activities with MA and may provide potential help for the clinical use of acupuncture.The proposed quantitative method of acupuncture signals may be further used to make MA more standardized.     

Characterizing neural activities evoked by manual acupuncture through spiking irregularity measures

The neural system characterizes information in external stimulations by different spiking patterns. In order to examine how neural spiking patterns are related to acupuncture manipulations, experiments are designed in such a way that different types of manual acupuncture （MA） manipulations are taken at the ＇Zusanli＇ point of experimental rats, and the induced electrical signals in the spinal dorsal root ganglion are detected and recorded. The interspike interval （ISI） statistical histogram is fitted by the gamma distribution, which has two parameters： one is the time-dependent firing rate and the other is a shape parameter characterizing the spiking irregularities. The shape parameter is the measure of spiking irregularities and can be used to identify the type of MA manipulations. The coefficient of variation is mostly used to measure the spike time irregularity, but it overestimates the irregularity in the case of pronounced firing rate changes. However, experiments show that each acupuncture manipulation will lead to changes in the firing rate. So we combine four relatively rate- independent measures to study the irregularity of spike trains evoked by different types of MA manipulations. Results suggest that the MA manipulations possess unique spiking statistics and characteristics and can be distinguished according to the spiking irregularity measures. These studies have offered new insights into the coding processes and information transfer of acupuncture.     

针刺过程中大脑功能性网络特性的演化

根据脑电图数据建立大脑功能性网络, 并使用功能性网络图、 聚类系数、 熵等复杂网络分析方法对5组实验数据形成的功能性网络进行分析, 给出了针刺治病的内在机理. 分析结果表明: 在针刺前、 中、 后网络结构和网络中各节点间的相关性有明显变化;  针刺可以影响高级神经中枢的放电活动, 增强大脑各功能区的信息传递.     

Modulation of brain functional connectivity with manual acupuncture in healthy subjects: An electroencephalograph case studying

Manual acupuncture is widely used for pain treatment and stress control. Previous studies on acupuncture have shown its modulatory effects on functional connectivity associated with one or a few preselected brain regions. To investigate how manual acupuncture modulates the organization of functional networks at a whole-brain level, we acupuncture at ST36 of right leg to obtain electroencephalograph (EEG) signals. By coherence estimation, we determine the synchronizations between all pairwise combinations of EEG channels in three acupuncture states. The resulting synchronization matrices are converted into functional networks by applying a threshold, and clustering coefficients and path lengths are computed as a function of threshold. The results show that acupuncture can increase functional connections and synchronizations between different brain areas. For a wide range of threshold, the clustering coefficient during acupuncture and post-acupuncture period is higher than that during the pre-acupuncture control period, whereas characteristic path length is shorter. We provide further support for the presence of "small-world" network characteristics in functional networks by acupuncture. These preliminary results highlight the beneficial modulations of functional connectivity by manual acupuncture, which could contribute to the understanding of acupuncture effects on the entire brain, as well as the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying acupuncture. Moreover, the proposed method may be a useful approach to the further investigation of the complexity of patterns of interrelations between EEG channels.     

Parkinsonian oscillations and their suppression by closed-loop deep brain stimulation based on fuzzy concept

This paper provides an adaptive closed-loop strategy for suppressing the pathological oscillations of the basal ganglia based on a variable universe fuzzy algorithm. The pathological basal ganglia oscillations in the theta (4-9 Hz) and beta (12-35 Hz) frequency bands have been demonstrated to be associated with the tremor and rigidity/bradykinesia symptoms in Parkinson's disease (PD). Although the clinical application of open-loop deep brain stimulation (DBS) is effective, the stimulation waveform with the fixed parameters cannot be self-adjusted as the disease progresses, and thus the stimulation effects go poor. To deal with this difficult problem, a variable universe fuzzy closed-loop strategy is proposed to modulate different PD states. We establish a cortico-basal ganglia-thalamocortical network model to simulate pathological oscillations and test the control effect. The results suggest that the proposed closed-loop control strategy can accommodate the variation of brain states and symptoms, which may become an alternative method to administrate the symptoms in PD.     

耦合小世界神经网络的随机共振

噪声广泛存在于生物神经系统中,对系统功能具有重要作用.采用神经元二维映射模型构建一个复杂神经网络,由多个小世界子网络构成,研究了Gaussian白噪声诱导的随机共振现象.研究发现,只有合适的噪声强度才能使神经网络对输入刺激信号的频率响应达到峰值.另外,网络结构对系统随机共振特性有重要影响.在固定的耦合强度下,存在一个最优的局部小世界子网络结构,使得整个系统的频率响应最佳.     

Spiking patterns of a hippocampus model in electric fields

We develop a model of CA3 neurons embedded in a resistive array to mimic the effects of electric fields from a new perspective. Effects of DC and sinusoidal electric fields on firing patterns in CA3 neurons are investigated in this study. The firing patterns can be switched from no firing pattern to burst or from burst to fast periodic firing pattern with the increase of DC electric field intensity. It is also found that the firing activities are sensitive to the frequency and amplitude of the sinusoidal electric field. Different phase-locking states and chaotic firing regions are observed in the parameter space of frequency and amplitude. These findings are qualitatively in accordance with the results of relevant experimental and numerical studies. It is implied that the external or endogenous electric field can modulate the neural code in the brain. Furthermore, it is helpful to develop control strategies based on electric fields to control neural diseases such as epilepsy.