Swallowing-related neural oscillation: An intracranial EEG study

Swallowing is a unique movement due to the indispensable orchestration of voluntary and involuntary movement. The transition from voluntary to involuntary swallowing is executed on the order of milliseconds. We hypothesized that its neural mechanism is revealed by high frequency cortical activities. Eight epileptic participants fitted with intracranial electrodes over the orofacial cortex were asked to swallow a water bolus, and cortical oscillatory changes, including high {gamma} band (75-150 Hz) and {beta} band (13-30 Hz) were investigated at the time of mouth-opening, water-injection, and swallowing. High {gamma} power increases associated with mouth-opening were observed in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex with water-injection in the lateral central sulcus and with swallowing in the region along the Sylvian fissure. Mouth-opening induced a {beta} power decrease, which continued until the completion of swallowing. The high {gamma} burst activity was focal and specific to swallowing, however, the {beta} activities were extensive and not specific to swallowing. At the boundary time between voluntary and involuntary swallowing, swallowing-related high {gamma} power achieved the peak, and subsequently, the power decreased. We demonstrated three distinct activities related to mouth-opening, water-injection, and swallowing induced at different timings, using high {gamma} activities. The peak of high {gamma} power related to swallowing suggests that during voluntary swallowing phases, the cortex is the main driving force for swallowing rather than the brain stem.