scholarly journals Ultrasound stimulation of the motor cortex during tonic muscle contraction

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Szwast Heimbuch ◽  
Tiffany Fan ◽  
Allan Wu ◽  
Guido C Faas ◽  
Andrew C Charles ◽  
...  

Transcranial ultrasound stimulation (tUS) shows potential as a noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS) technique, offering increased spatial precision compared to other NIBS techniques. However, its reported effects on primary motor cortex (M1) are limited. We aimed to better understand tUS effects in human M1 by performing tUS of the hand area of M1 (M1hand) during tonic muscle contraction of the index finger. Stimulation during muscle contraction was chosen because of the transcranial magnetic stimulation-induced phenomenon known as cortical silent period (cSP), in which transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of M1hand involuntarily suppresses voluntary motor activity. Since cSP is widely considered an inhibitory phenomenon, it presents an ideal parallel for tUS, which has often been proposed to preferentially influence inhibitory interneurons. Recording electromyography (EMG) of the first dorsal interosseous (FDI) muscle, we investigated effects on muscle activity both during and after tUS. We found no change in FDI EMG activity concurrent with tUS stimulation. Using single-pulse TMS, we found no difference in M1 excitability before versus after sparsely repetitive tUS exposure. Using acoustic simulations in models made from structural MRI of the participants that matched the experimental setups, we estimated in-brain pressures and generated an estimate of cumulative tUS exposure experienced by M1hand for each subject. We were unable to find any correlation between cumulative M1hand exposure and M1 excitability change. We also present data that suggest a TMS-induced MEP always preceded a near-threshold cSP.

2000 ◽  
Vol 111 (8) ◽  
pp. 1340-1345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Massimo Cincotta ◽  
Alessandra Borgheresi ◽  
Leonello Guidi ◽  
Marco Macucci ◽  
Mirco Cosottini ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.S. Ananiev ◽  
D.A. Pavlov ◽  
R.N. Yakupov ◽  
V.A. Golodnova ◽  
M.V. Balykin

The study was conducted on 22 healthy men aged 18-23 years. The primary motor cortex innervating the lower limb was stimulated with transcranial magnetic stimulation. Using transcutaneous electrical stimulation of the spinal cord, evoked motor responses of the muscles of the lower extremities were initiated when electrodes were applied cutaneous between the spinous processes in the Th11-Th12 projection. Research protocol: Determination of the thresholds of BMO of the muscles of the lower extremities during TESCS; determination of the BMO threshold of the TA muscle in TMS; determination of the thresholds of the BMO of the muscles of the lower extremities during TESCS against the background of 80% and 90% TMS. It was found that magnetic stimulation of the motor cortex of the brain leads to an increase in the excitability of the neural structures of the lumbar thickening of the spinal cord and an improvement in neuromuscular interactions. Key words: transcranial magnetic stimulation, transcutaneous electrical stimulation of the spinal cord, neural networks, excitability, neuromuscular interactions.


NeuroImage ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 500-509 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergiu Groppa ◽  
Nicole Werner-Petroll ◽  
Alexander Münchau ◽  
Günther Deuschl ◽  
Matthew F.S. Ruschworth ◽  
...  

2005 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 316-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Liepert ◽  
D Mingers ◽  
C Heesen ◽  
T Bäumer ◽  
C Weiller

We investigated electrophysiological correlates of fatigue in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was used to explore motor excitability in three groups of subjects: MS patients with fatigue (MS-F), MS patients without fatigue (MS-NF) and healthy control subjects. All participants had to perform a fatiguing hand-grip exercise. TMS was performed prior to and after the exercise. Prior to the motor task, MS-F patients had less inhibition in the primary motor cortex compared to both other groups. Postexercise, intracortical inhibition was still reduced in the MS-F patients compared to the MS-NF patients. In MS-F patients the postexercise time interval for normalization of the motor threshold was correlated with the fatigue severity. We conclude that MS patients with fatigue have an impairment of inhibitory circuits in their primary motor cortex. The results also indicate that fatigue severity is associated with an exercise-induced reduction of membrane excitability.


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