Renzo Comolatti, Gabriel Hassan, Ezequiel Mikulan, Simone Russo, Michele A Colombo, Elisabetta Litterio, Giulia Furregoni, Sasha D'Ambrosio, Matteo Fecchio, Sara Parmigiani, Ivana Sartori, Silvia Casarotto, Andrea Pigorini, Marcello Massimini
{"title":"Transcranial magnetic vs intracranial electric stimulation: a direct comparison of their effects via scalp EEG recordings.","authors":"Renzo Comolatti, Gabriel Hassan, Ezequiel Mikulan, Simone Russo, Michele A Colombo, Elisabetta Litterio, Giulia Furregoni, Sasha D'Ambrosio, Matteo Fecchio, Sara Parmigiani, Ivana Sartori, Silvia Casarotto, Andrea Pigorini, Marcello Massimini","doi":"10.1016/j.brs.2025.07.016","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Single-pulse Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) and Intracranial Electrical Stimulation (IES) are widely used to probe cortical excitability and connectivity, but their electrophysiological effects have never been compared.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>This study aims to fill this gap by using high-density scalp electroencephalogram (hd-EEG) as a common read-out to compare human brain responses to TMS and IES.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The dataset includes TMS-evoked potentials (TEPs) acquired from healthy subjects (n = 22) and IES-evoked potentials (IEPs) recorded from drug-resistant epileptic patients (n = 31) during wakefulness. In a subset of subjects TEPs (n = 12) and IEPs (n = 13) were also recorded during NREM sleep. Amplitude, spectral, and spatiotemporal features of TMS and IES responses, as well as their estimated electrical fields, were compared.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We observed marked differences between TMS and IES responses. During wakefulness, IEPs are considerably larger, slower and associated with a suppression of cortical activity, whereas TEPs are characterized by multiple waves of recurrent activation. These differences are attenuated in NREM, during which both TMS and IES elicit large EEG responses associated with a prominent suppression of cortical activity. At the global level, the spatiotemporal complexity of the responses to both TMS and IES decreases consistently following the transition from wakefulness to NREM sleep.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Despite the limitations due to different subject populations (healthy vs pathological), our findings provide a first reference to parallel non-invasive and invasive brain stimulation and to interpret their differential effects. They also offer important insight on how cortical responsiveness is shaped by inhibition and adaptation mechanisms depending on input parameters and brain states.</p>","PeriodicalId":9206,"journal":{"name":"Brain Stimulation","volume":" ","pages":"1444-1454"},"PeriodicalIF":8.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Brain Stimulation","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2025.07.016","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/7/27 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CLINICAL NEUROLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Single-pulse Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) and Intracranial Electrical Stimulation (IES) are widely used to probe cortical excitability and connectivity, but their electrophysiological effects have never been compared.
Objective: This study aims to fill this gap by using high-density scalp electroencephalogram (hd-EEG) as a common read-out to compare human brain responses to TMS and IES.
Methods: The dataset includes TMS-evoked potentials (TEPs) acquired from healthy subjects (n = 22) and IES-evoked potentials (IEPs) recorded from drug-resistant epileptic patients (n = 31) during wakefulness. In a subset of subjects TEPs (n = 12) and IEPs (n = 13) were also recorded during NREM sleep. Amplitude, spectral, and spatiotemporal features of TMS and IES responses, as well as their estimated electrical fields, were compared.
Results: We observed marked differences between TMS and IES responses. During wakefulness, IEPs are considerably larger, slower and associated with a suppression of cortical activity, whereas TEPs are characterized by multiple waves of recurrent activation. These differences are attenuated in NREM, during which both TMS and IES elicit large EEG responses associated with a prominent suppression of cortical activity. At the global level, the spatiotemporal complexity of the responses to both TMS and IES decreases consistently following the transition from wakefulness to NREM sleep.
Conclusion: Despite the limitations due to different subject populations (healthy vs pathological), our findings provide a first reference to parallel non-invasive and invasive brain stimulation and to interpret their differential effects. They also offer important insight on how cortical responsiveness is shaped by inhibition and adaptation mechanisms depending on input parameters and brain states.
期刊介绍:
Brain Stimulation publishes on the entire field of brain stimulation, including noninvasive and invasive techniques and technologies that alter brain function through the use of electrical, magnetic, radiowave, or focally targeted pharmacologic stimulation.
Brain Stimulation aims to be the premier journal for publication of original research in the field of neuromodulation. The journal includes: a) Original articles; b) Short Communications; c) Invited and original reviews; d) Technology and methodological perspectives (reviews of new devices, description of new methods, etc.); and e) Letters to the Editor. Special issues of the journal will be considered based on scientific merit.