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RESEARCH PRODUCT
Increased facilitation of the primary motor cortex following 1 Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation of the contralateral cerebellum in normal humans.
Sara TorrieroMassimiliano OliveriGiacomo KochCarlo Caltagironesubject
AdultMaleCerebellumTMS Cerebellum Motor cortex Motor evoked potentialsmedicine.medical_treatmentbehavioral disciplines and activitiesSynaptic TransmissionMotor evoked potentialsFunctional LateralityNOCerebellar CortexPurkinje CellsCerebellum; Motor cortex; Motor evoked potentials; TMS;Reference ValuesCerebellumNeural PathwaysmedicineReaction TimeHumansEvoked PotentialsSettore M-PSI/02 - Psicobiologia E Psicologia Fisiologicamusculoskeletal neural and ocular physiologyGeneral NeuroscienceInterstimulus intervalMotor CortexNeural InhibitionEvoked Potentials MotorTranscranial Magnetic StimulationElectric StimulationTranscranial magnetic stimulationElectrophysiologyReference Values; Humans; Cerebellum; Neural Inhibition; Electric Stimulation; Cerebellar Cortex; Purkinje Cells; Motor Cortex; Evoked Potentials Motor; Adult; Neural Pathways; Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation; Synaptic Transmission; Female; Functional Laterality; Male; Reaction Time; Cerebellar Nucleimedicine.anatomical_structurenervous systemMotorCerebellar NucleiTMSCerebellar cortexSilent periodSettore MED/26 - NeurologiaFemalePrimary motor cortexPsychologyNeurosciencepsychological phenomena and processesMotor cortexdescription
Connections between the cerebellum and the contralateral motor cortex are dense and important, but their physiological significance is difficult to measure in humans. We have studied a group of 10 healthy subjects to test whether a modulation of the excitability of the left cerebellum can affect the excitability of the contralateral motor cortex. We used repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) at 1 Hz frequency to transiently depress the excitability of the left cerebellar cortex and paired-pulse TMS testing of intracortical inhibition (ICI) and intracortical facilitation (ICF) to probe the excitability of cortico-cortical connections in the right motor cortex. The cortical silent period was also measured before and after cerebellar rTMS. Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) were significantly larger after than before conditioning rTMS trains (p < 0.01). Moreover, left cerebellar rTMS increased the ICF of the right motor cortex as measured with paired-pulses separated by an interstimulus interval (ISI) of 15 ms. The effect lasted for up to 30 min afterward and was specific for the contralateral (right) motor cortex. The cortical silent period was unaffected by cerebellar rTMS. The implication is that rTMS of the cerebellar cortex can shape the flowing of inhibition from Purkinje cells toward deep nuclei, thereby increasing the excitability of interconnected brain areas.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005-01-01 | Neuroscience letters |