Modulation of Interhemispheric Synchronization and Cortical Activity in Healthy Subjects by High-Definition Theta-Burst Electrical Stimulation

Van-Truong Nguyen; Chun-Wei Wu; Chien-An Chen; Chao-Chen Lo; Fu-Yu Chen; Chun-I Wu; Pi-Shan Sung; Chou-Ching Lin; Jia-Jin Chen

doi:10.1155/2022/3593262

Modulation of Interhemispheric Synchronization and Cortical Activity in Healthy Subjects by High-Definition Theta-Burst Electrical Stimulation

Neural Plast. 2022 Apr 29:2022:3593262. doi: 10.1155/2022/3593262. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Van-Truong Nguyen¹, Chun-Wei Wu², Chien-An Chen¹, Chao-Chen Lo³, Fu-Yu Chen⁴, Chun-I Wu¹, Pi-Shan Sung⁵, Chou-Ching Lin⁵, Jia-Jin Chen^{1

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biomedical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan.
² School of Biomedical Engineering, College of Biomedical Engineering, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
³ Department of Physical Therapy, Shu-Zen Junior College of Medicine and Management, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
⁴ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Chung Yuan Christian University, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
⁵ Department of Neurology, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan.
⁶ Medical Device Innovation Center, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan.

Abstract

Background: Various forms of theta-burst stimulation (TBS) such as intermittent TBS (iTBS) and continuous TBS (cTBS) have been introduced as novel facilitation/suppression schemes during repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), demonstrating a better efficacy than conventional paradigms. Herein, we extended the rTMS-TBS schemes to electrical stimulation of high-definition montage (HD-TBS) and investigated its neural effects on the human brain.

Methods: In a within-subject design, fifteen right-handed healthy adults randomly participated in 10 min and 2 mA HD-TBS sessions: unilateral (Uni)-iTBS, bilateral (Bi)-cTBS/iTBS, and sham stimulation over primary motor cortex regions. A 20-channel near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) system was covered on the bilateral prefrontal cortex (PFC), sensory motor cortex (SMC), and parietal lobe (PL) for observing cerebral hemodynamic responses in the resting-state and during fast finger-tapping tasks at pre-, during, and poststimulation. Interhemispheric correlation coefficient (IHCC) and wavelet phase coherence (WPCO) from resting-state NIRS and concentration of oxyhemoglobin during fast finger-tapping tasks were explored to reflect the symmetry between the two hemispheres and cortical activity, respectively.

Results: The IHCC and WPCO of NIRS data in the SMC region under Bi-cTBS/iTBS showed relatively small values at low-frequency bands III (0.06-0.15 Hz) and IV (0.02-0.06), indicating a significant desynchronization in both time and frequency domains. In addition, the SMC activation induced by fast finger-tapping exercise was significantly greater during Uni-iTBS as well as during and post Bi-cTBS/iTBS sessions.

Conclusions: It appears that a 10 min and 2 mA Bi-cTBS/iTBS applied over two hemispheres within the primary motor cortex region could effectively modulate the interhemispheric synchronization and cortical activation in the SMC of healthy subjects. Our study demonstrated that bilateral HD-TBS approaches is an effective noninvasive brain stimulation scheme which could be a novel therapeutic for inducing effects of neuromodulation on various neurological disorders caused by ischemic stroke or traumatic brain injuries.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Electric Stimulation
Evoked Potentials, Motor / physiology
Healthy Volunteers
Humans
Parietal Lobe*
Prefrontal Cortex / physiology
Theta Rhythm / physiology
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation* / methods