Theta burst repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation attenuates somatosensory evoked potentials from the lower limb

BMC Neuroscience

Research Article

Kevin G H Lee¹  Michael J Asmussen¹  Mark F Jacobs¹  David A E Bolton¹  Christopher M Zapallow¹  Aimee J Nelson² 

[1] Department of Kinesiology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada;Department of Kinesiology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada;Department of Kinesiology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada;

关键词: Continuous theta burst stimulation;    Somatosensory evoked potentials;    Hoffmann reflex;    Lower limb;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2202-13-133

 received in 2012-08-08, accepted in 2012-10-23,  发布年份 2012

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundContinuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) is a form of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation which has been shown to alter cortical excitability in the upper limb representation of primary somatosensory cortex (SI). However, it is unknown whether cTBS modulates cortical excitability within the lower limb representation in SI. The present study investigates the effects of cTBS over the SI lower limb representation on cortical somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) and Hoffmann reflex (H-reflex) following tibial nerve stimulation at the knee. SEPs and H-reflex were recorded before and in four time blocks up to 30 minutes following cTBS targeting the lower limb representation within SI.ResultsFollowing cTBS, the P1-N1 first cortical potential was significantly decreased at 12–16 minutes. CTBS also suppressed the P2-N2 second cortical potential for up to 30 minutes following stimulation. The H-reflex remained statistically unchanged following cTBS although there was a modest suppression observed.ConclusionWe conclude that cTBS decreases cortical excitability of the lower limb representation of SI as evidenced by suppressed SEP amplitude. The duration and magnitude of the cTBS after effects are similar to those observed in upper limb studies.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Zapallow et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.