TY - JOUR T1 - Generation of phase-amplitude coupling of neurophysiological signals in a neural mass model of a cortical column JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/023291 SP - 023291 AU - Roberto C. Sotero Y1 - 2015/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2015/07/27/023291.abstract N2 - Phase-amplitude coupling (PAC), the phenomenon where the phase of a low-frequency rhythm modulates the amplitude of a higher frequency, is becoming an important neurophysiological indicator of short- and long-range information transmission in the brain. Although recent evidence suggests that PAC might play a functional role during sensorimotor, and cognitive events, the neurobiological mechanisms underlying its generation remain imprecise. Thus, a realistic but simple enough computational model of the phenomenon is needed. Here we propose a neural mass model of a cortical column, comprising fourteen neuronal populations distributed across four layers (L2/3, L4, L5 and L6). While experimental studies often focus in only one or two PAC combinations (e.g., theta-gamma or alpha-gamma) our simulations show that the cortical column can generate almost all possible couplings of phases and amplitudes, which are influenced by connectivity parameters, time constants, and external inputs. Furthermore, our simulations suggest that the effective connectivity between neuronal populations can result in the emergence of PAC combinations with frequencies different from the natural frequencies of the oscillators involved. For instance, simulations of oscillators with natural frequencies in the theta, alpha and gamma bands, were able to produce significant PAC combinations involving delta and beta bands. ER -