ProjectDirekte Ableitung der Aktivität neuronaler Schaltkreise während transkranieller Magnetstimulation in Nagetieren

Basic data

Title:
Direkte Ableitung der Aktivität neuronaler Schaltkreise während transkranieller Magnetstimulation in Nagetieren
Duration:
01/10/2019 to 30/09/2022
Abstract / short description:
Over the last three decades, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), a non-invasive brain stimulation method based on electromagnetic induction, has gained considerable interest in experimental and clinical neuroscience for its capability of non-invasively activating cortical neuronal populations and inducing plasticity. Despite its widespread application, most of our current understanding of the physiological mechanisms underlying various TMS effects are based on inferences from indirect observations. The neurophysiological mechanisms of TMS are still largely unknown. It is, therefore, important to address this critical limitation in order to facilitate TMS research and further exploit the therapeutic potential of this highly promising technique. The aim of this project is to make the direct link between a TMS pulse and its induced brain activation at the neuronal level, in vivo, using laboratory rodents. A giant obstacle that prevented the direct investigation of TMS neurophysiology was the large TMS-induced electromagnetic interference. However, with our recent successful development of a method for concurrent TMS and extracellular electrophysiology (EEP), the direct, near artifact-free (<1 ms) investigation of TMS effects at the level of single neurons in laboratory rodents has become possible. For this project, first, we plan to expand our newly developed method from a single-channel to a multichannel system to enable recording of TMS-induced responses simultaneously in a large number of neurons across multiple brain areas. Then, we will use high-density microelectrode arrays to record, under TMS, single neuron activities over multiple cortical columns in anesthetized rodents to study the spatial and temporal dynamics of TMS neuronal activation and its relations with cortical outputs. Next, we will employ optophysiological methods to gain a deeper understanding of how TMS modulates the activities of local cortical networks and what are the contributions of different neuron classes to this modulation. We believe that by making a direct link between TMS and its neuronal activations, the proposed project establish the much-needed physiological foundation of TMS that is central to the development of novel therapeutic approaches utilizing this powerful non-invasive brain stimulation technique.
Keywords:
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)
Neuronal circuits
Motor evoked potentials
Motor cortex
optophysiological methods
D-wave
I-waves

Involved staff

Managers

University Department of Neurology
Hospitals and clinical institutes, Faculty of Medicine

Contact persons

University Department of Neurology
Hospitals and clinical institutes, Faculty of Medicine

Local organizational units

Department of Cognitive Neurology †
University Department of Neurology
Hospitals and clinical institutes, Faculty of Medicine

Funders

Bonn, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
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