Equipment for Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation.

Autor: Pernia AM, Zorzo C, Prieto MJ, Martinez JA, Higarza SG, Mendez M, Arias JL
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: IEEE transactions on biomedical circuits and systems [IEEE Trans Biomed Circuits Syst] 2020 Jun; Vol. 14 (3), pp. 525-534. Date of Electronic Publication: 2020 Mar 16.
DOI: 10.1109/TBCAS.2020.2981012
Abstrakt: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a non-invasive neuromodulation technique used for the treatment of a great variety of neurological disorders. The technique involves applying a magnetic field in certain areas of the cerebral cortex in order to modify neuronal excitability outside the skull. However, the exact brain mechanisms underlying rTMS effects are not completely elucidated. For that purpose, and in order to generate a pulsed magnetic field, a half-bridge converter controlled by a microcontroller has been designed to apply rTMS in small animals. Moreover, the small size of the rodent head makes it necessary to design a magnetic transducer, with the aim of focusing the magnetic field on selected brain areas using a specific and a small magnetic head. Using such devices, our purpose was to compare the effects of five different rTMS dosages on rat brain metabolic activity. The experimental results showed that one day of stimulation leads to an enhancement of brain metabolic activity in cortical areas, meanwhile with three days of stimulation it is possible to also modify subcortical zones, results that were not found when extending the number of rTMS applications up to seven days. In consequence, the number of pulses delivered might be an important parameter in rTMS protocols, highlighting its importance in rTMS impact.
Databáze: MEDLINE