Long-range phase synchronization of high-gamma activity in human cortex

Inter-areal synchronization of neuronal oscillations below 100 Hz is ubiquitous in cortical circuitry and thought to regulate neuronal communication. In contrast, faster activities are generally considered to be exclusively local-circuit phenomena. We show with human intracerebral recordings that 100–300 Hz high-gamma activity (HGA) may be synchronized between widely distributed regions. HGA synchronization was not attributable to artefacts or to epileptic pathophysiology. Instead, HGA synchronization exhibited a reliable cortical connectivity and community structures, and a laminar profile opposite to that of lower frequencies. Importantly, HGA synchronization among functional brain systems during non-REM sleep was distinct from that in resting state. Moreover, HGA synchronization was transiently enhanced for correctly inhibited responses in a Go/NoGo task. These findings show that HGA synchronization constitutes a new, functionally significant form of neuronal spike-timing relationships in brain activity. We suggest that HGA synchronization reflects the temporal microstructure of spiking-based neuronal communication per se in cortical circuits. * cPLV : complex-valued phase-locking-value (Methods eq.1) EZ : epileptogenic zone HFO : high-frequency oscillations (100–200 Hz) HGA : high-gamma activity (100–300 Hz) iPLV : the imaginary part of the complex PLV LFP : local-field potential nEZ : putative healthy SEEG recording sites PLV : the absolute value of the complex PLV SEEG : stereo-electroencephalography