TY - JOUR
T1 - Solving the orientation specific constraints in transcranial magnetic stimulation by rotating fields
AU - Rotem, Assaf
AU - Neef, Andreas
AU - Neef, Nicole E.
AU - Agudelo-Toro, Andres
AU - Rakhmilevitch, David
AU - Paulus, Walter
AU - Moses, Elisha
N1 - German Ministry for Education and Research through the Bernstein Focus Neurotechnology Gottingen [01GQ0811, 01GQ0810]; Israel Science Foundation [1320/09]This work was partly funded by the German Ministry for Education and Research through the Bernstein Focus Neurotechnology Gottingen (01GQ0811, 01GQ0810) and the Israel Science Foundation under grant number 1320/09. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
PY - 2014/2/5
Y1 - 2014/2/5
N2 - Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is a promising technology for both neurology and psychiatry. Positive treatment outcome has been reported, for instance in double blind, multi-center studies on depression. Nonetheless, the application of TMS towards studying and treating brain disorders is still limited by inter-subject variability and lack of model systems accessible to TMS. The latter are required to obtain a deeper understanding of the biophysical foundations of TMS so that the stimulus protocol can be optimized for maximal brain response, while inter-subject variability hinders precise and reliable delivery of stimuli across subjects. Recent studies showed that both of these limitations are in part due to the angular sensitivity of TMS. Thus, a technique that would eradicate the need for precise angular orientation of the coil would improve both the inter-subject reliability of TMS and its effectiveness in model systems. We show here how rotation of the stimulating field relieves the angular sensitivity of TMS and provides improvements in both issues. Field rotation is attained by superposing the fields of two coils positioned orthogonal to each other and operated with a relative phase shift in time. Rotating field TMS (rfTMS) efficiently stimulates both cultured hippocampal networks and rat motor cortex, two neuronal systems that are notoriously difficult to excite magnetically. This opens the possibility of pharmacological and invasive TMS experiments in these model systems. Application of rfTMS to human subjects overcomes the orientation dependence of standard TMS. Thus, rfTMS yields optimal targeting of brain regions where correct orientation cannot be determined (e.g., via motor feedback) and will enable stimulation in brain regions where a preferred axonal orientation does not exist.
AB - Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is a promising technology for both neurology and psychiatry. Positive treatment outcome has been reported, for instance in double blind, multi-center studies on depression. Nonetheless, the application of TMS towards studying and treating brain disorders is still limited by inter-subject variability and lack of model systems accessible to TMS. The latter are required to obtain a deeper understanding of the biophysical foundations of TMS so that the stimulus protocol can be optimized for maximal brain response, while inter-subject variability hinders precise and reliable delivery of stimuli across subjects. Recent studies showed that both of these limitations are in part due to the angular sensitivity of TMS. Thus, a technique that would eradicate the need for precise angular orientation of the coil would improve both the inter-subject reliability of TMS and its effectiveness in model systems. We show here how rotation of the stimulating field relieves the angular sensitivity of TMS and provides improvements in both issues. Field rotation is attained by superposing the fields of two coils positioned orthogonal to each other and operated with a relative phase shift in time. Rotating field TMS (rfTMS) efficiently stimulates both cultured hippocampal networks and rat motor cortex, two neuronal systems that are notoriously difficult to excite magnetically. This opens the possibility of pharmacological and invasive TMS experiments in these model systems. Application of rfTMS to human subjects overcomes the orientation dependence of standard TMS. Thus, rfTMS yields optimal targeting of brain regions where correct orientation cannot be determined (e.g., via motor feedback) and will enable stimulation in brain regions where a preferred axonal orientation does not exist.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84895519420&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0086794
DO - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0086794
M3 - مقالة
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 9
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
IS - 2
M1 - e86794
ER -