MRI-based visualization of rTMS-induced cortical plasticity in the primary motor cortex

PLoS One. 2019 Oct 24;14(10):e0224175. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0224175. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) induces changes in cortical excitability for minutes to hours after the end of intervention. However, it has not been precisely determined to what extent cortical plasticity prevails spatially in the cortex. Recent studies have shown that rTMS induces changes in "interhemispheric" functional connectivity, the resting-state functional connectivity between the stimulated region and the symmetrically corresponding region in the contralateral hemisphere. In the present study, quadripulse stimulation (QPS) was applied to the index finger representation in the left primary motor cortex (M1), while the position of the stimulation coil was constantly monitored by an online navigator. After QPS application, resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed, and the interhemispheric functional connectivity was compared with that before QPS. A cluster of connectivity changes was observed in the stimulated region in the central sulcus. The cluster was spatially extended approximately 10 mm from the center [half width at half maximum (HWHM): approximately 3 mm] and was extended approximately 20 mm long in depth (HWHM: approximately 7 mm). A localizer scan of the index finger motion confirmed that the cluster of interhemispheric connectivity changes overlapped spatially with the activation related to the index finger motion. These results indicate that cortical plasticity in M1 induced by rTMS was relatively restricted in space and suggest that rTMS can reveal functional dissociation associated with adjacent small areas by inducing neural plasticity in restricted cortical regions.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Brain / physiology*
  • Brain / radiation effects
  • Evoked Potentials, Motor / physiology*
  • Female
  • Functional Laterality
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Motor Cortex / physiology*
  • Motor Cortex / radiation effects
  • Neuronal Plasticity / physiology*
  • Neuronal Plasticity / radiation effects
  • Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation / methods*
  • Young Adult

Associated data

  • Dryad/10.5061/dryad.fj6q573pw

Grants and funding

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI (https://www.jsps.go.jp/) Grant Number 16K18367 and 18K07348 to T.O. and a grant from Takeda Science Foundation (https://www.takeda-sci.or.jp/) to SK. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.