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}
Brain StimulationPub Date : 2025-03-14DOI: 10.1016/j.brs.2025.03.006
Li-Ming Hsu, Domenic H Cerri, Regina M Carelli, Yen-Yu Ian Shih
{"title":"Optogenetic stimulation of cell bodies versus axonal terminals generate comparable activity and functional connectivity patterns in the brain.","authors":"Li-Ming Hsu, Domenic H Cerri, Regina M Carelli, Yen-Yu Ian Shih","doi":"10.1016/j.brs.2025.03.006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2025.03.006","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Optogenetic techniques are often employed to dissect neural pathways with presumed specificity for targeted projections. In this study, we used optogenetic fMRI to investigate the effective landscape of stimulating the cell bodies versus one of its projection terminals. Specifically, we selected a long-range unidirectional projection from the ventral subiculum (vSUB) to the nucleus accumbens shell (NAcSh) and placed two stimulating fibers-one at the vSUB cell bodies and the other at the vSUB terminals in the NAcSh. Contrary to the conventional view that terminal stimulation confines activity to the feedforward stimulated pathway, our findings reveal that terminal stimulation induces brain activity and connectivity patterns remarkably similar to those of vSUB cell body stimulation. This observation suggests that the specificity of optogenetic terminal stimulation may induce antidromic activation, leading to broader network involvement than previously acknowledged.</p>","PeriodicalId":9206,"journal":{"name":"Brain Stimulation","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143639508","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 : 2025-03-13DOI: 10.1016/j.brs.2025.03.009
Kyoungwon Baik, Seongwoo Lee, Chan-Nyoung Lee, Kun-Woo Park, Jin Woo Chang
{"title":"MRgFUS pallidothalamic tractotomy following GPi DBS in a patient with refractory hemichorea: A case report.","authors":"Kyoungwon Baik, Seongwoo Lee, Chan-Nyoung Lee, Kun-Woo Park, Jin Woo Chang","doi":"10.1016/j.brs.2025.03.009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2025.03.009","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":9206,"journal":{"name":"Brain Stimulation","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143633503","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}