Brain StimulationPub Date : 2025-03-30DOI: 10.1016/j.brs.2025.03.020
Saeed Makkinayeri, Roberto Guidotti, Alessio Basti, Mark W Woolrich, Chetan Gohil, Mauro Pettorruso, Maria Ermolova, Risto J Ilmoniemi, Ulf Ziemann, Gian Luca Romani, Vittorio Pizzella, Laura Marzetti
{"title":"Investigating brain network dynamics in state-dependent stimulation: a concurrent Electroencephalography and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation study using Hidden Markov Models.","authors":"Saeed Makkinayeri, Roberto Guidotti, Alessio Basti, Mark W Woolrich, Chetan Gohil, Mauro Pettorruso, Maria Ermolova, Risto J Ilmoniemi, Ulf Ziemann, Gian Luca Romani, Vittorio Pizzella, Laura Marzetti","doi":"10.1016/j.brs.2025.03.020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2025.03.020","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Systems neuroscience studies have shown that baseline brain activity can be categorized into large-scale networks (resting-state-networks, RNSs), with influence on cognitive abilities and clinical symptoms. These insights have guided millimeter-precise selection of brain stimulation targets based on RSNs. Concurrently, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) studies revealed that baseline brain states, measured by EEG signal power or phase, affect stimulation outcomes. However, EEG dynamics in these studies are mostly limited to single regions or channels, lacking the spatial resolution needed for accurate network-level characterization.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>We aim at mapping brain networks with high spatial and temporal precision and to assess whether the occurrence of specific network-level-states impact TMS outcome. To this end, we will identify large-scale brain networks and explore how their dynamics relates to corticospinal excitability.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This study leverages Hidden Markov Models to identify large-scale brain states from pre-stimulus source space high-density-EEG data collected during TMS targeting the left primary motor cortex in twenty healthy subjects. The association between states and fMRI-defined RSNs was explored using the Yeo atlas, and the trial-by-trial relation between states and corticospinal excitability was examined.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We extracted fast-dynamic large-scale brain states with unique spatiotemporal and spectral features resembling major RSNs. The engagement of different networks significantly influences corticospinal excitability, with larger motor evoked potentials when baseline activity was dominated by the sensorimotor network.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>These findings represent a step forward towards characterizing brain network in EEG-TMS with both high spatial and temporal resolution and underscore the importance of incorporating large-scale network dynamics into TMS experiments.</p>","PeriodicalId":9206,"journal":{"name":"Brain Stimulation","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143762702","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Brain StimulationPub Date : 2025-03-29DOI: 10.1016/j.brs.2025.03.019
Kirstin-Friederike Heise, Geneviève Albouy, Nina Dolfen, Ronald Peeters, Dante Mantini, Stephan P Swinnen
{"title":"Induced zero-phase synchronization as a potential neural code for optimized visuomotor integration.","authors":"Kirstin-Friederike Heise, Geneviève Albouy, Nina Dolfen, Ronald Peeters, Dante Mantini, Stephan P Swinnen","doi":"10.1016/j.brs.2025.03.019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2025.03.019","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Goal-directed behavior requires the integration of information from the outside world and internal (somatosensory) sources about our own actions. Expectations (or 'internal models') are generated from prior knowledge and constantly updated based on sensory feedback. This optimized information integration ('predictive coding') results in a global behavioral advantage of anticipated action in the presence of uncertainty. Our goal was to probe the effect of phase entrainment of the sensorimotor mu-rhythm on visuomotor integration.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Participants received transcranial alternating current stimulation over bilateral motor cortices (M1) while performing a visually-guided force adjustment task during functional magnetic resonance imaging.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Inter-hemispheric zero-phase entrainment resulted in effector-specific modulation of performance precision and effector-generic minimization of force signal complexity paralleled by BOLD activation changes in bilateral caudate and increased functional connectivity between the right M1 and contralateral putamen, inferior parietal, and medial temporal regions. While effector-specific changes in performance precision were associated with contralateral caudate and hippocampal activation decreases, only the global reduction in force signal complexity was associated with increased functional M1 connectivity with bilateral striatal regions.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>We propose that zero-phase synchronization represents a neural mode of optimized information integration related to internal model updating within the recursive perception-action continuum associated with predictive coding.</p>","PeriodicalId":9206,"journal":{"name":"Brain Stimulation","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143751262","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Brain StimulationPub Date : 2025-03-25DOI: 10.1016/j.brs.2025.03.016
Véronique Desbeaumes Jodoin, Emma Bousseau, Maxime Couture, Paul Lespérance, Jean-Philippe Miron
{"title":"Cognitive Effects of Spaced Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Major Depression.","authors":"Véronique Desbeaumes Jodoin, Emma Bousseau, Maxime Couture, Paul Lespérance, Jean-Philippe Miron","doi":"10.1016/j.brs.2025.03.016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2025.03.016","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":9206,"journal":{"name":"Brain Stimulation","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143728617","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Brain StimulationPub Date : 2025-03-19DOI: 10.1016/j.brs.2025.03.012
Paolo d'Errico, Iris Früholz, Melanie Meyer-Luehmann, Andreas Vlachos
{"title":"Neuroprotective and plasticity promoting effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS): a role for microglia.","authors":"Paolo d'Errico, Iris Früholz, Melanie Meyer-Luehmann, Andreas Vlachos","doi":"10.1016/j.brs.2025.03.012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2025.03.012","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation technique used to modulate neocortical excitability, with expanding applications in neurological and psychiatric disorders. However, the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying its effects, particularly the role of microglia-the resident immune cells of the central nervous system-remain poorly understood. This review synthesizes recent findings on how different rTMS protocols influence microglial function under physiological conditions and in disease models. Emerging evidence indicates that rTMS modulates microglial activation, promoting neuroprotective and plasticity-enhancing processes not only in models of brain disorders, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, but also in healthy neural circuits. While much of the current research has focused on the inflammatory profile of microglia, critical aspects such as activity-dependent synaptic remodeling, phagocytic activity, and process motility remain underexplored. Given the substantial heterogeneity of microglial responses across brain regions, age, and sex, as well as their differential roles in health and disease, a deeper understanding of their involvement in rTMS-induced plasticity is essential. Future studies should integrate selective microglial manipulation and advanced structural, functional, and molecular profiling techniques to clarify their causal involvement. Addressing these gaps will be pivotal in optimizing rTMS protocols and maximizing its therapeutic potential across a spectrum of neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions.</p>","PeriodicalId":9206,"journal":{"name":"Brain Stimulation","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143673280","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Accelerated iTBS with a personalised targeting method to treat negative symptoms of schizophrenia: A randomized controlled trial.","authors":"Yunyi Han, Fang Jin, Jimmy Lee, Wenpeng Hou, Xue Yang, Yiming Zhang, Yueying Zhang, Xuefeng Lu, Zhimin Wang, Qijing Bo, Zhengyi Yang, Fuchun Zhou, Tianzi Jiang, Chuanyue Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.brs.2025.03.014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2025.03.014","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The efficacy of non-invasive brain stimulation in ameliorating schizophrenia's negative symptoms remains to be validated. The mesocortical pathway, mostly comprising the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and prefrontal cortex, is the core neural circuit underlying negative symptoms. This study aimed to assess the clinical and biological effects of accelerated intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) targeted to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), guided by personalised dlPFC-VTA functional connectivity (FC).</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Eighty schizophrenia patients with predominant negative symptoms received 40 sessions of either active (n = 40) or sham (n = 40) accelerated iTBS (1800 pulses) in two weeks, targeting the region of the left dlPFC most functionally correlated with the VTA. Clinical and cognitive follow-ups occurred at week 4, 8, and 12. The primary outcome was the alteration in PANSS negative symptom (PANSS-NS) scores at week 4, while secondary outcomes included additional clinical, cognitive assessments and neuroimaging alterations.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>At week 4, the active group showed a significant reduction in PANSS-NS compared to the sham group, with a significant group × time interaction effect (P < 0.001, mean difference = 4.10, Cohen's d = 0.83). At week 2, compared to the sham group, the active group exhibited reduced left temporal middle gyrus (TMG) (r = -0.29, p = 0.01) activation and FC between the VTA and left TMG (r = -0.34, p = 0.003), and both were negatively correlated with PANSS-NS changes in both groups.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Accelerated iTBS targeting the personalised region determined by dlPFC-VTA FC is an effective intervention to alleviate negative symptoms of schizophrenia.</p>","PeriodicalId":9206,"journal":{"name":"Brain Stimulation","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143673266","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Brain StimulationPub Date : 2025-03-17DOI: 10.1016/j.brs.2025.03.011
Magdalene Mischke, Tino Zaehle
{"title":"Evaluating the Efficacy of Repetitive Anodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Cognitive Fatigue in Long COVID: A Randomized Controlled Trial.","authors":"Magdalene Mischke, Tino Zaehle","doi":"10.1016/j.brs.2025.03.011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2025.03.011","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":9206,"journal":{"name":"Brain Stimulation","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143662624","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Brain StimulationPub Date : 2025-03-15DOI: 10.1016/j.brs.2025.03.007
M B Powers, Hays Sa, Rosenfield D, Porter Al, Gallaway Hl, Chauvette Gv, Smits Jaj, A M Warren, Douglas M, R Naftalis, Wigginton Jg, Foreman M, Kilgard Mp, Rennaker Rl
{"title":"Vagus Nerve Stimulation Therapy for Treatment-Resistant PTSD.","authors":"M B Powers, Hays Sa, Rosenfield D, Porter Al, Gallaway Hl, Chauvette Gv, Smits Jaj, A M Warren, Douglas M, R Naftalis, Wigginton Jg, Foreman M, Kilgard Mp, Rennaker Rl","doi":"10.1016/j.brs.2025.03.007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2025.03.007","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is common and debilitating, and many individuals do not respond to existing therapies. We developed a fundamentally novel neuromodulation-based therapy for treatment-resistant PTSD. This approach is premised on coupling prolonged exposure therapy, a first-line evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapy that directs changes within fear networks, with concurrent delivery of short bursts of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), which enhance synaptic plasticity.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We performed a first-in-human prospective open-label early feasibility study (EFS) using a next-generation miniaturized system to deliver VNS therapy in nine individuals with moderate to severe treatment-resistant PTSD. All individuals received a standard 12-session course of prolonged exposure therapy combined with VNS. Assessments were performed before, 1 week after, and 1, 3, and 6 months after the completion of therapy.</p><p><strong>Clinicaltrials: </strong>gov registration: NCT04064762.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>VNS therapy resulted in significant, clinically-meaningful improvements in multiple metrics of PTSD symptoms and severity compared to baseline (CAPS-5, PCL-5, and HADS all p < 0.001 after therapy). These benefits persisted at 6 months after the cessation of therapy, suggesting lasting improvements. All participants showed loss of PTSD diagnosis after completing treatment. No serious or unexpected device-related adverse events were observed.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>These findings provide a demonstration of the safety and feasibility of VNS therapy for PTSD and highlight the potential of this approach. Collectively, these support the validation of VNS therapy for PTSD in a rigorous randomized controlled trial.</p>","PeriodicalId":9206,"journal":{"name":"Brain Stimulation","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143647388","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}