1. LTD-like plasticity of the human primary motor cortex can be reversed by γ-tACS
- Author
-
Antonio Suppa, Giovanna De Marco, Alfredo Berardelli, Francesco Asci, Valentina D'Onofrio, Vincenzo Di Lazzaro, Andrea Guerra, and Matteo Bologna
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,tACS ,Plasticity ,medicine.medical_treatment ,CTBS ,Biophysics ,Stimulation ,Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation ,050105 experimental psychology ,lcsh:RC321-571 ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Interneurons ,medicine ,Humans ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,Gamma ,lcsh:Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry ,Transcranial alternating current stimulation ,Neuronal Plasticity ,Chemistry ,General Neuroscience ,Long-Term Synaptic Depression ,05 social sciences ,Motor Cortex ,Beta ,cTBS ,Evoked Potentials, Motor ,Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ,TMS ,Transcranial magnetic stimulation ,Inhibition, Psychological ,stomatognathic diseases ,Facilitation ,Intracortical inhibition ,Female ,Neurology (clinical) ,Primary motor cortex ,Neuroscience ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery - Abstract
Background Cortical oscillatory activities play a role in regulating several brain functions in humans. However, whether motor resonant oscillations (i.e. β and γ) modulate long-term depression (LTD)-like plasticity of the primary motor cortex (M1) is still unclear. Objective To address this issue, we combined transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS), a technique able to entrain cortical oscillations, with continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS), a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) protocol commonly used to induce LTD-like plasticity in M1. Methods Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) elicited by single-pulse TMS, short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) and intracortical facilitation (ICF) were evaluated before and 5, 15 and 30 min after cTBS alone or cTBS delivered during β-tACS (cTBS-β) or γ-tACS (cTBS-γ). Moreover, we tested the effects of β-tACS (alone) on short-latency afferent inhibition (SAI) and γ-tACS on SICI in order to verify whether tACS-related interneuronal modulation contributes to the effects of tACS-cTBS co-stimulation. Results cTBS-γ turned the expected after-effects of cTBS from inhibition to facilitation. By contrast, responses to cTBS-β were similar to those induced by cTBS alone. β- and γ-tACS did not change MEPs evoked by single-pulse TMS. β-tACS reduced SAI and γ-tACS reduced SICI. However, the degree of γ-tACS-induced modulation of SICI did not correlate with the effects of cTBS-γ. Conclusion γ-tACS reverses cTBS-induced plasticity of the human M1. γ-oscillations may therefore regulate LTD-like plasticity mechanisms.
- Published
- 2019