Precisely-timed outpatient recordings of subcortical local field potentials from wireless streaming-capable...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Biomedical Engineering
• Electrophysiology

Background:

• Subcortical electrophysiology research traditionally relies on local field potentials (LFPs) recorded during deep-brain stimulation (DBS) surgery.
• Wireless DBS devices enable outpatient LFP recordings, offering significant research potential but lacking precise timing synchronization.
• Existing synchronization methods are limited by artifact inconsistency and insufficient validation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a precise method for synchronizing wirelessly streamed subcortical LFPs with other data.
• To overcome the challenge of integrating outpatient LFP data into research paradigms requiring accurate temporal alignment.

Main Methods:

• Utilized transient artifacts from DBS device activation as consistent temporal markers.
• Aligned simultaneous LFP and scalp-EEG recordings using these artifacts.
• Validated alignment precision against transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) artifacts and assessed phase consistency across trials.

Main Results:

• Achieved highly precise alignment with a maximum deviation of 8 ms, significantly outperforming previous methods.
• Demonstrated the ability to generate trial-averaged event-locked LFPs.
• Confirmed comparable task-related LFP patterns between outpatient and perisurgical recordings.

Conclusions:

• Presented a novel method and MATLAB toolbox for precise digital timing insertion into DBS-LFP data.
• This advancement significantly enhances the research utility of wirelessly streamed LFP recordings.
• Enables event-related research with high temporal precision, unlocking new avenues for subcortical studies.