Article
Behavioral Sciences
Giacomo Guidali, Michela Picardi, Chiara Gramegna, Nadia Bolognini
Summary: Mirror PAS (m-PAS) can induce a new, atypical pattern of cortico-spinal excitability by repeatedly pairing TMS pulses and visual stimuli depicting finger movements. This technique can drive new associations between action perception and motor programs, which can be measured both at a neurophysiological and behavioral level.
Article
Neurosciences
Naotsugu Kaneko, Atsushi Sasaki, Yohei Masugi, Kimitaka Nakazawa
Summary: Associative Stimulation (PAS) combining transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation (tSCS) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was used to modulate corticospinal excitability in lower-limb muscles. The study found that PAS could facilitate corticospinal excitability in the lower-leg and hamstring muscles under individual-ISI condition, with a spatial gradient of PAS-induced facilitation among lower-limb muscles.
Review
Clinical Neurology
Julio C. Hernandez-Pavon, Arantzazu San Agustin, Max C. Wang, Domenica Veniero, Jose L. Pons
Summary: The objective of this article is to systematically review the efficacy of ccPAS in inducing plasticity in humans, with a focus on stimulation parameters and hypotheses of underlying neurophysiology. The review found that ccPAS can modulate brain connectivity depending on the interstimulus intervals, and it has the potential for basic research and potential clinical applications. This article highlights the importance of targeting multiple brain areas to study brain connectivity in the field of transcranial magnetic stimulation.
CLINICAL NEUROPHYSIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Anesthesiology
Chiara Abagnale, Federico Ranieri, Antonio Di Renzo, Vincenzo Parisi, Mariano Serrao, Vincenzo Di Lazzaro, Marco Lisicki, Gianluca Coppola, Francesco Pierelli
Summary: This study revealed dysfunctional neural plasticity in the visual system of patients with migraine between attacks, showing a lack of habituation enhancing and habituation suppressing visual PAS mechanisms. This suggests that migraine-related dysrhythmic thalamocortical activity may prevent physiological bidirectional synaptic plasticity induced by vPAS.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Arantzazu San Agustin, Guillermo Asin-Prieto, Juan C. Moreno, Antonio Oliviero, Jose L. Pons
Summary: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) can modulate cortico-spinal excitability and improve motor performance, as shown in a study using a customized video game. This finding highlights the potential of using TMS in neurorehabilitation strategies for complex movements.
Article
Neurosciences
Makoto Suzuki, Kazuo Saito, Yusuke Maeda, Kilchoon Cho, Naoki Iso, Takuhiro Okabe, Takako Suzuki, Junichi Yamamoto
Summary: Paired associative stimulation (PAS) can increase and decrease cortical excitability in primary motor cortex (M1) neurons through spike timing-dependent plasticity (long-term potentiation and long-term depression). However, the effect of PAS on the cortical circuits for antagonist muscles in M1 is unclear.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Timothy S. Pulverenti, Morad Zaaya, Monika Grabowski, Ewelina Grabowski, Md Anamul Islam, Jeffrey Li, Lynda M. Murray, Maria Knikou
Summary: This study investigated the neurophysiological changes in spinal cord injury patients undergoing locomotor training with combined transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcutaneous thoracolumbar spinal (transspinal) stimulation. The results showed that TMS-transspinal stimulation promotes functional reorganization of spinal networks during stepping, while transspinal-TMS stimulation induces less pronounced effects. Both stimulation protocols resulted in beneficial changes in motor activity and motoneuron depolarization during assisted stepping.
FRONTIERS IN NEUROLOGY
(2021)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Petyo Nikolov, Thomas J. Baumgarten, Shady S. Hassan, Sarah N. Meissner, Nur-Deniz Fuellenbach, Gerald Kircheis, Dieter Haessinger, Markus S. Joerdens, Markus Butz, Alfons Schnitzler, Stefan J. Groiss
Summary: The study revealed reduced synaptic plasticity of the primary motor cortex in patients with hepatic encephalopathy (HE), likely caused by disturbances in glutamatergic neurotransmission due to hyperammonemia in HE patients. This decrease in synaptic plasticity may provide a link between molecular level changes and early clinical symptoms of the disease.
CLINICAL NEUROPHYSIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Sonia Turrini, Francesca Fiori, Emilio Chiappini, Boris Lucero, Emiliano Santarnecchi, Alessio Avenanti
Summary: Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) studies have shown that cortico-cortical paired associative stimulation (ccPAS) can strengthen connectivity between the ventral premotor cortex (PMv) and the primary motor cortex (M1) by modulating convergent input over M1 via Hebbian spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP). The authors tested 60 right-handed young healthy humans using dual coil TMS and ccPAS over the left PMv and M1 to probe and manipulate PMv-to-M1 connectivity, and found that ccPAS acts locally over M1 by gradually increasing motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) induced by paired PMv-M1 stimulation. Moreover, ccPAS reduced the magnitude of short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) without affecting intracortical facilitation (ICF), highlighting the physiological basis of ccPAS.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Adam Meder, Inga Liepelt-Scarfone, Patricia Sulzer, Daniela Berg, Christoph Laske, Oliver Preische, Debora Desideri, Carl M. Zipser, Giacomo Salvadore, Kanaka Tatikola, Maarten Timmers, Ulf Ziemann
Summary: The study found that patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) exhibit corticospinal hyperexcitability, while there was no significant difference between Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients and healthy controls. However, the standard PAS(LTP) protocol may not be suitable for assessing LTP-like motor cortical plasticity.
CLINICAL NEUROPHYSIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Zhao Zhang, Bor-Shing Lin, Chih-Wei Peng, Wing P. Chan, Bor-Shyh Lin, Chien-Hung Lai
Summary: The study proposed a novel nerve rehabilitation treatment strategy involving paired associative nerve stimulation for individuals with incomplete spinal cord injury (iSCI), and found that paired associative stimulation of both the brain and spine is more effective for corticospinal plasticity compared to single stimulation methods.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON NEURAL SYSTEMS AND REHABILITATION ENGINEERING
(2021)
Review
Behavioral Sciences
Giacomo Guidali, Camilla Roncoroni, Nadia Bolognini
Summary: Research has reviewed recent advances in using non-invasive brain stimulation protocols, proposing a new classification scheme and describing their characteristics and application in studying and promoting brain plasticity. It is concluded that these protocols represent promising tools for studying human sensorimotor and crossmodal network plasticity.
BEHAVIOURAL BRAIN RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Francesca Ginatempo, Nicoletta Manzo, Danny A. Spampinato, Nicola Loi, Francesca Burgio, John C. Rothwell, Franca Deriu
Summary: This study investigated the effects of peripheral nerve and cerebellum paired associative stimulation (cPAS) on plasticity in the cerebellum and cortex. The results showed that cPAS25 had the ability to induce plasticity effects in the cerebellar cortex, resulting in a reduction in cerebellum-brain inhibition (CBI).
Review
Neurosciences
Anastasia Shulga, Pantelis Lioumis, Erika Kirveskari, Sarianna Savolainen, Jyrki P. Makela
Summary: The novel high-PAS approach, consisting of non-invasive high-intensity TMS and high-frequency PNS, showed therapeutic effects in patients with incomplete SCI by increasing manual motor scores, enhancing functional hand and walking abilities, and improving functional independence. Further studies are needed to elucidate the mechanisms and optimize the settings of high-PAS for potential clinical applications.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Matteo Costanzo, Giorgio Leodori, Carolina Cutrona, Francesco Marchet, Maria Ilenia De Bartolo, Marco Mancuso, Daniele Belvisi, Antonella Conte, Alfredo Berardelli, Giovanni Fabbrini
Summary: This study used TMS-EEG technique to investigate the cortical correlates of PAS-induced plasticity. The results showed that PAS not only caused long-lasting facilitation of MEPs amplitude, but also led to a significant increase in TEPs P30 and P60 amplitude. There was no significant correlation between the changes in MEP amplitude and TEP components, but the combined changes in P30 and P60 component amplitudes significantly predicted MEP facilitation after PAS.