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    Modification of brain oscillations via rhythmic light stimulation provides evidence for entrainment but not for superposition of event-related responses
    (Lausanne : Frontiers Media, 2016) Notbohm, Annika; Kurths, Jürgen; Herrmann, Christoph S.
    The functional relevance of brain oscillations in the alpha frequency range (8–13 Hz) has been repeatedly investigated through the use of rhythmic visual stimulation. The underlying mechanism of the steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) measured in EEG during rhythmic stimulation, however, is not known. There are two hypotheses on the origin of SSVEPs: entrainment of brain oscillations and superposition of event-related responses (ERPs). The entrainment but not the superposition hypothesis justifies rhythmic visual stimulation as a means to manipulate brain oscillations, because superposition assumes a linear summation of single responses, independent from ongoing brain oscillations. Here, we stimulated participants with a rhythmic flickering light of different frequencies and intensities. We measured entrainment by comparing the phase coupling of brain oscillations stimulated by rhythmic visual flicker with the oscillations induced by arrhythmic jittered stimulation, varying the time, stimulation frequency, and intensity conditions. In line with a theoretical concept of entrainment (the so called Arnold tongue), we found the phase coupling to be more pronounced with increasing stimulation intensity as well as at stimulation frequencies closer to each participant's intrinsic frequency. Only inside the Arnold tongue did the conditions significantly differ from the jittered stimulation. Furthermore, even in a single sequence of an SSVEP, we found non-linear features (intermittency of phase locking) that contradict the linear summation of single responses, as assumed by the superposition hypothesis. Our findings provide unequivocal evidence that visual rhythmic stimulation entrains brain oscillations, thus validating the approach of rhythmic stimulation as a manipulation of brain oscillations.
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    The stress and vascular catastrophes in newborn rats: Mechanisms preceding and accompanying the brain hemorrhages
    (Lausanne : Frontiers Media, 2016) Semyachkina-Glushkovskaya, Oxana; Borisova, Ekaterina; Abakumov, Maxim; Gorin, Dmitry; Avramov, Latchezar; Fedosov, Ivan; Namykin, Anton; Abdurashitov, Arkady; Serov, Alexander; Pavlov, Alexey; Zinchenko, Ekaterina; Lychagov, Vlad; Navolokin, Nikita; Shirokov, Alexander; Maslyakova, Galina; Zhu, Dan; Luo, Qingming; Chekhonin, Vladimir; Tuchin, Valery; Kurths, Jürgen
    In this study, we analyzed the time-depended scenario of stress response cascade preceding and accompanying brain hemorrhages in newborn rats using an interdisciplinary approach based on: a morphological analysis of brain tissues, coherent-domain optical technologies for visualization of the cerebral blood flow, monitoring of the cerebral oxygenation and the deformability of red blood cells (RBCs). Using a model of stress-induced brain hemorrhages (sound stress, 120 dB, 370 Hz), we studied changes in neonatal brain 2, 4, 6, 8 h after stress (the pre-hemorrhage, latent period) and 24 h after stress (the post-hemorrhage period). We found that latent period of brain hemorrhages is accompanied by gradual pathological changes in systemic, metabolic, and cellular levels of stress. The incidence of brain hemorrhages is characterized by a progression of these changes and the irreversible cell death in the brain areas involved in higher mental functions. These processes are realized via a time-depended reduction of cerebral venous blood flow and oxygenation that was accompanied by an increase in RBCs deformability. The significant depletion of the molecular layer of the prefrontal cortex and the pyramidal neurons, which are crucial for associative learning and attention, is developed as a consequence of homeostasis imbalance. Thus, stress-induced processes preceding and accompanying brain hemorrhages in neonatal period contribute to serious injuries of the brain blood circulation, cerebral metabolic activity and structural elements of cognitive function. These results are an informative platform for further studies of mechanisms underlying stress-induced brain hemorrhages during the first days of life that will improve the future generation's health.