FEATURES ANALYSIS AND SYSTEM IDENTIFICATION OF MECHANOMYOGRAPHY AND ELECTROMYOGRAPHY UNDER TRANSCRANIAL MAGNETIC STIMULATION

Author(s):  
HANYANG ZHANG ◽  
YANBIAO ZHONG ◽  
YUE ZHANG ◽  
KE YANG ◽  
CHUNMING XIA ◽  
...  

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is an electrophysiological technique that uses alternating magnetic fields to deliver electric current and stimulate the cerebral cortex. When TMS is used for the evaluation of brain diseases, it is necessary to detect the contraction of the corresponding muscles in the cerebral cortex stimulated by TMS, and the muscle activity referred to as motor evoked potential (MEP). This study simultaneously recorded the mechanomyography (MMG) and electromyography (EMG) from the right abductor pollicis brevis muscle during TMS with different intensities in order to observe whether the MEP parameters from MMG signals showed similar trait of EMG recordings. Moreover, the subspace method (N4SID) and transfer function were used to identify the TMS–MMG system. In this system, the input was a pulse signal of TMS, and the output was the MMG signal detected from the target muscle. The TMS–MMG system was identified as a fourth-order model. This study also analyzed the internal features of the system and demonstrated that the poles of healthy subjects were distributed in a range, and the gain increased with the increase of the TMS intensity. It was found that MMG signals can be used as diagnostic indicators of TMS, and the TMS–MMG model can be used to further explore the details of how TMS generates responses measured with MMG.

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 634-645
Author(s):  
Zoë Claire Franklin ◽  
David James Wright ◽  
Paul Stewart Holmes

There is evidence that action observation (AO) and the processing of action-related words are associated with increased activity in cortical motor regions. Research has examined the effects of AO and action verb processing on activity in the motor system independently. The aim of this experiment was to investigate, for the first time, the modulation of corticospinal excitability and visual attention during the concurrent processing of action verbs and AO stimuli. Twenty participants took part in an integrated transcranial magnetic stimulation and eye-tracking protocol. Single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation was delivered to the hand representation of the left motor cortex during (i) observation of a static hand, (ii) AO of a hand squeezing a sponge, (iii) AO of the same action with an audio recording of the word “squeeze,” and (iv) AO of the same action with an audio recording of the word “green”. Motor evoked potentials were recorded from the abductor pollicis brevis and abductor digiti minimi muscles of the right hand. Eye gaze was recorded throughout the four conditions as a proxy for visual attention. Interviews were conducted to discuss participants' preferences and imagery use for each condition. The AO and action verb condition resulted in significantly increased motor evoked potential amplitudes in the abductor pollicis brevis muscle; participants also made significantly more fixations on the sponge and reported wanting to move their hand more in the action verb condition. The inclusion of auditory action verbs, alongside AO stimuli, in movement simulation interventions could have implications for the delivery of AO interventions for motor (re)learning.


2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa Kallioniemi ◽  
Minna Pitkänen ◽  
Laura Säisänen ◽  
Petro Julkunen

Cortical motor mapping in pre-surgical applications can be performed using motor evoked potential (MEP) amplitudes evoked with neuronavigated transcranial magnetic stimulation. The MEP latency, which is a more stable parameter than the MEP amplitude, has not so far been utilized in motor mapping. The latency, however, may provide information about the stress in damaged motor pathways, e.g. compression by tumors, which cannot be observed from the MEP amplitudes. Thus, inclusion of this parameter could add valuable information to the presently used technique of MEP amplitude mapping. In this study, the functional cortical representations of first dorsal interosseous (FDI), abductor pollicis brevis (APB) and abductor digiti minimi (ADM) muscles were mapped in both hemispheres of ten healthy righthanded volunteers. The cortical muscle representations were evaluated by the area and centre of gravity (CoG) by using MEP amplitudes and latencies. As expected, the latency and amplitude CoGs were congruent and were located in the centre of the maps but in a few subjects, instead of a single centre, several loci with short latencies were observed. In conclusion, MEP latencies may be useful in distinguishing the cortical representation areas with the most direct pathways from those pathways with prolonged latencies. However, the potential of latency mapping to identify stressed motor tract connections at the subcortical level will need to be verified in future studies with patients.


Author(s):  
Anssam Bassem Mohy ◽  
Aqeel Kareem Hatem ◽  
Hussein Ghani Kadoori ◽  
Farqad Bader Hamdan

Abstract Background Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive procedure used in a small targeted region of the brain via electromagnetic induction and used diagnostically to measure the connection between the central nervous system (CNS) and skeletal muscle to evaluate the damage that occurs in MS. Objectives The study aims to investigate whether single-pulse TMS measures differ between patients with MS and healthy controls and to consider if these measures are associated with clinical disability. Patients and methods Single-pulse TMS was performed in 26 patients with MS who hand an Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score between 0 and 9.5 and in 26 normal subjects. Different TMS parameters from upper and lower limbs were investigated. Results TMS disclosed no difference in all MEP parameters between the right and left side of the upper and lower limbs in patients with MS and controls. In all patients, TMS parameters were different from the control group. Upper limb central motor conduction time (CMCT) was prolonged in MS patients with pyramidal signs. Upper and lower limb CMCT and CMCT-f wave (CMCT-f) were prolonged in patients with ataxia. Moreover, CMCT and CMCT-f were prolonged in MS patients with EDSS of 5–9.5 as compared to those with a score of 0–4.5. EDSS correlated with upper and lower limb cortical latency (CL), CMCT, and CMCT-f whereas motor evoked potential (MEP) amplitude not. Conclusion TMS yields objective data to evaluate clinical disability and its parameters correlated well with EDSS.


2021 ◽  
Vol 74 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 41-49
Author(s):  
Zeynep Ozdemir ◽  
Erkan Acar ◽  
Aysun Soysal

Transcranial magnetic stimulation is a non-invasive procedure that uses robust magnetic fields to create an electrical current in the cerebral cortex. Dual stimulation consists of administering subthre­shold conditioning stimulation (CS), then suprathreshold test stimulation (TS). When the interstimulus interval (ISI) is 1-6 msec, the motor evoked potential (MEP) decreases in amplitude; this decrease is termed “short interval intracortical inhibition” (SICI); when the ISI is 7-30 msec, an increase in MEP amplitude occurs, termed “short interval intracortical facilitation” (SICF). Continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS), often applied at a frequency of 50 Hz, has been shown to decrease cortical excitability. The primary objective is to determine which duration of cTBS achieves better inhibition or excitation. The secondary objective is to compare 50 Hz cTBS to 30 Hz and 100 Hz cTBS. The resting motor threshold (rMT), MEP, SICI, and SICF were studied in 30 healthy volunteers. CS and TS were administered at 80%-120% and 70%-140% of rMT at 2 and 3-millisecond (msec) intervals for SICI, and 10- and 12-msec intervals for SICF. Ten individuals in each group received 30, 50, or 100 Hz, followed by administration of rMT, MT-MEP, SICI, SICF immediately and at 30 minutes. Greater inhibition was achieved with 3 msec than 2 msec in SICI, whereas better facilitation occurred at 12 msec than 10 msec in SICF. At 30 Hz, cTBS augmented inhibition and suppressed facilitation, while 50 Hz yielded less inhibition and greater inter-individual variability. At 100 Hz, cTBS provided slight facilitation in MEP amplitudes with less interindividual variability. SICI and SICF did not differ significantly between 50 Hz and 100 Hz cTBS. Our results suggest that performing SICI and SICF for 3 and 12 msec, respectively, and CS and TS at 80%-120% of rMT, demonstrate safer inhibition and facilitation. Recently, TBS has been used in the treatment of various neurological diseases, and we recommend preferentially 30 Hz over 50 Hz cTBS for better inhibition with greater safety and less inter-individual variability.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Yang ◽  
Ines Eisner ◽  
Siqi Chen ◽  
Shaosong Wang ◽  
Fan Zhang ◽  
...  

While neuroplasticity changes measured by transcranial magnetic stimulation have been proved to be highly correlated to motor recovery and have been tested in various forms of interventions, it has not been applied to investigate the neurophysiologic mechanism of acupuncture therapy. The aim of this study is to investigate neuroplasticity changes induced by a single session of acupuncture therapy in healthy adults, regarding the excitability change on bilateral primary motor cortex and interhemispheric inhibition. Ten subjects took a 30-minute acupuncture therapy and the same length relaxing phase in separate days. Transcranial magnetic stimulation measures, including resting motor threshold, amplitudes of motor-evoked potential, and interhemispheric inhibition, were assessed before and 10 minutes after intervention. Acupuncture treatment showed significant changes on potential amplitude from both ipsilateral and contralateral hemispheres to acupuncture compared to baseline. Also, interhemispheric inhibition from the contralateral motor cortex to the opposite showed a significant decline. The results indicated that corticomotoneuronal excitability and interhemispheric competition could be modulated by acupuncture therapy on healthy subjects. The following question about whether these changes will be observed in the same way on stroke patients and whether they correlate with the therapeutic effect on movement need to be answered by following studies. This trial is registered with ISRCTN13074245.


Author(s):  
Kerry R. Mills

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been exploited to advance knowledge of corticospinal physiology and, in a number of conditions, to aid diagnosis and quantify corticospinal abnormalities. The basic physics of magnetic stimulation is described along with the effects of stimulating coils with different dimensions and shape. The effects of single TMS pulses over motor cortex to cause a descending volley of D and I waves, and their effects on spinal motor neurons resulting in a motor evoked potential (MEP) are described. Guidelines for the safe use of TMS are given. Methods to estimate useful clinical measures of corticospinal function, such as threshold, MEP amplitude, central motor conduction time, silent period and input:output relation are given, as is the means to quantify corticospinal conduction using the triple stimulation technique. The clinical utility of TMS in neurodegenerations, central demyelinating diseases, stroke, spinal cord disease, movement disorders, and functional disorders is discussed.


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