Non-invasive brain stimulation is a technology that uses magnetic field or electric field to act on the brain to adjust the activity of cerebral cortex neurons. It mainly includes transcranial magnetic stimulation and transcranial direct current stimulation. The principle is to accelerate the induction of neuroplasticity by changing the excitability of the cerebral cortex. The characteristics are noninvasive, safe and that the patient can tolerate it. This article mainly introduces the theoretical foundation and mechanisms of non-invasive brain stimulation, and its application and safety in stroke complications, neuropathic pain and epilepsy, and discusses the commonly used treatment regimens of non-invasive brain stimulation in different neurological diseases, in order to provide possible treatment reference for the rehabilitation of neurological diseases.
Weightlessness in the space environment affects astronauts’ learning memory and cognitive function. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation has been shown to be effective in improving cognitive dysfunction. In this study, we investigated the effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on neural excitability and ion channels in simulated weightlessness mice from a neurophysiological perspective. Young C57 mice were divided into control, hindlimb unloading and magnetic stimulation groups. The mice in the hindlimb unloading and magnetic stimulation groups were treated with hindlimb unloading for 14 days to establish a simulated weightlessness model, while the mice in the magnetic stimulation group were subjected to 14 days of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation. Using isolated brain slice patch clamp experiments, the relevant indexes of action potential and the kinetic property changes of voltage-gated sodium and potassium channels were detected to analyze the excitability of neurons and their ion channel mechanisms. The results showed that the behavioral cognitive ability and neuronal excitability of the mice decreased significantly with hindlimb unloading. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation could significantly improve the cognitive impairment and neuroelectrophysiological indexes of the hindlimb unloading mice. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation may change the activation, inactivation and reactivation process of sodium and potassium ion channels by promoting sodium ion outflow and inhibiting potassium ion, and affect the dynamic characteristics of ion channels, so as to enhance the excitability of single neurons and improve the cognitive damage and spatial memory ability of hindlimb unloading mice.
Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease that mostly occurs in middle-aged and elderly people. It is characterized by progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra and aggregation of Lewy bodies, resulting in a series of motor symptoms and non-motor symptoms. Depression is the most important manifestation of non-motor symptoms, which seriously affects the quality of life of patients. Clinicians often use antidepressant drugs to improve the depressive symptoms of patients with Parkinson 's disease, but it is still urgent to solve the problems of drug side effects and drug resistance caused by such methods. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation is a safe and non-invasive neuromodulation technique that can change the excitability of the corticospinal tract, induce the release of dopamine and other neurotransmitters, and further improve the depressive symptoms of patients with Parkinson 's disease. Based on this, this paper discusses and summarizes the research progress on the efficacy and potential mechanism of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for improving depression in Parkinson 's disease at home and abroad, in order to provide reference for related clinical application research.
In order to explore effective ways to reduce non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) among female adolescents, a total of 45 female adolescent patients with NSSI in West China Hospital of Sichuan University and Guizhou Second Provincial People's Hospital from June 2021 to June 2024 were selected randomly that divided into groups A, B and C, with 15 cases in each group. Group A was treated with repeated transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and bipolar depression triple therapy, and group B was treated with bipolar depression triple therapy to compare the effectiveness and safety. Group C received bipolar depression triple therapy combined with sham stimulation which only produced stimulating sounds but no stimulating magnetic field as a control in the study. After treatment, the Hamilton Anxiety Score (HAMA), Hamilton Depression Score (HAMD) and Nurses’ Global Assessment of Suicide Risk (NGASR) in group A were significantly lower than those in group B and C (P < 0.01). rTMS combined with bipolar depression triple therapy has a definite effect on reducing NSSI in female adolescents, which can reduce the incidence rate of short-term NSSI behavior in patients.
Repeated transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is one of the commonly used brain stimulation techniques. In order to investigate the effects of rTMS on the excitability of different types of neurons, this study is conducted to investigate the effects of rTMS on the cognitive function of mice and the excitability of hippocampal glutaminergic neurons and gamma-aminobutyric neurons from the perspective of electrophysiology. In this study, mice were randomly divided into glutaminergic control group, glutaminergic magnetic stimulation group, gamma-aminobutyric acid energy control group, and gamma-aminobutyric acid magnetic stimulation group. The four groups of mice were injected with adeno-associated virus to label two types of neurons and were implanted optical fiber. The stimulation groups received 14 days of stimulation and the control groups received 14 days of pseudo-stimulation. The fluorescence intensity of calcium ions in mice was recorded by optical fiber system. Behavioral experiments were conducted to explore the changes of cognitive function in mice. The patch-clamp system was used to detect the changes of neuronal action potential characteristics. The results showed that rTMS significantly improved the cognitive function of mice, increased the amplitude of calcium fluorescence of glutamergic neurons and gamma-aminobutyric neurons in the hippocampus, and enhanced the action potential related indexes of glutamergic neurons and gamma-aminobutyric neurons. The results suggest that rTMS can improve the cognitive ability of mice by enhancing the excitability of hippocampal glutaminergic neurons and gamma-aminobutyric neurons.
ObjectiveTo systematically evaluate the effect of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on post-stroke depression (PSD).MethodsWe searched databases including the PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Internet, Wanfang, China Biology Medicine database and VIP database to collect randomized controlled trials comparing the effect of the rTMS group and the control group with the scores of depression scale from January 2013 to April 2018. Patients in the rTMS group received rTMS plus drug therapy or conventional treatment for PSD, and patients in the control group received rTMS sham stimulation or not, but the drug treatment or routine treatment was required. When the quality evaluation and data extraction were carried out by two reviewers independently, the Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software and Stata 14.0 software.ResultsA total of 18 literatures involving 1 376 patients (687 patients in the rTMS group and 689 patients in the control group) with PSD were included in this Meta-analysis. Compared with the control group, the rTMS group could effectively reduce the depression scores of PSD patients [standard mean difference (SMD)=–1.13, 95% confidence interval (CI) (–1.42, –0.84), P<0.000 01], and the effective rate of rTMS was 91.7%; meanwhile, rTMS could promote the scores of the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale and the activities of daily living of patients with PSD [SMD=–1.00, 95%CI (–1.25, –0.75), P<0.000 01;SMD=1.56, 95%CI (0.80, 2.32), P<0.000 01]. The source of heterogeneity was not found according to subgroup analysis and Meta-regression analysis. Additionally, few studies reported adverse reactions after the treatment of rTMS.ConclusionsrTMS has a positive effect on depression, neurological deficits, and decreased ability of daily living in patients with PSD. Due to the quality of the included studies, the conclusions need to be verified further.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the efficacy of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). MethodsWe searched databases including PubMed, The Cochrane Library (Issue 10, 2015), EMbase, PsycINF, EBSCO, CBM, CNKI, WanFang Data and VIP from inception to October 2015 to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about rTMS for patients with MCI. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. Then, meta-analysis was performed by using RevMan 5.3 software. ResultsA total of 5 RCTs involving 180 MCI patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that, compared with the control group, rTMS treatment could significantly improve the overall cognitive abilities of MCI patients (SMD=2.53, 95% CI 0.91 to 4.16, P=0.002), as well as the single-domain cognitive performances, including tests for episodic memory (MD=0.98, 95% CI 0.24 to 1.72, P=0.01) and verbal fluency (MD=2.08, 95% CI 0.46 to 3.69, P=0.01). rTMS was a well-tolerated therapy, with slightly more adverse events observed than the control group (RD=0.09, 95% CI 0.00 to 0.18, P=0.04), but cases were mainly transient headache, dizziness and scalp pain. ConclusionrTMS may benefit the cognitive abilities of MCI patients. Nevertheless, due to the limited quantity and quality of included studies, large-scale, multicenter, and high quality RCTs are required to verify the conclusion.
Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for treating dysfunction in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Methods We searched the Cochrane Library (Issue 1, 2010), MEDLINE, EMbase, CBMdisc, and CNKI from the date of the database establishment to April 2010. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of rTMS for patients with PD were collected. The quality of the included RCTs was critically appraised and data were extracted by two reviewers independently. Meta-analyses were conducted for the eligible RCTs. Results Eight RCTs were included. The pooled results of the first 2 RCTs showed that, there was no significant difference compared with control group about treating PD patients with clinical motor dysfunction by high-frequency rTMS 10 days later (WMD= –4.75, 95%CI –13.73 to 4.23). The pooled analysis of another 3 studies showed that, no significant difference were found about improving symptoms with treatment of low-frequency rTMS for 1 month compared with control group (WDM= –8.51, 95%CI –18.48 to 1.46). The pooled analysis of last 3 studies showed that, patient with treatment of low-frequency rTMS for 3 months, had been significantly improved in clinical symptoms such as neurological, behavior and emotional state, clinical motor function, and activities of daily living (WDM= –5.79, 95%CI –8.44 to –1.13). The frontal or motor cortex rTMS manifested as low frequency (≤1Hz), high intensity (≥90% RMT), multi-frequency (≥3 times) and long time (≥3 months) had a positive effect on the clinical symptoms of patients with PD and also had a long-term effect. Conclusions rTMS can improve clinical symptoms and dysfunction of the patients with PD.
Objective To evaluate the systematic reviews of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for insomnia, to provide supporting evidence for clinical practice. Methods PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Elsevier Science Direct, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, SinoMed, Wanfang and Chongqing VIP were searched from databases establishment to May 30, 2022, to find systematic reviews on the treatment of insomnia with rTMS as the main method. The methodological quality, reporting quality and evidence quality of outcome indicators were evaluated by AMSTAR 2, PRISMA 2020 and GRADE. Results A total of 4 systematic reviews published between 2018 and 2021 were included. Further analysis showed that one of the systematic reviews had a low AMSTAR 2 quality rating and the remaining systematic reviews were very low. The average PRISMA 2020 score of these 4 systematic reviews was (20.75±3.27) points, of which 3 systematic reviews had some defects in their reports, and the other one had relatively complete reports. The GRADE evidence quality assessment showed that there were 40 outcome indicators in the included literature, of which 3 outcome indicators (sleep quality, the percentage of S2 sleep in total sleep time, and S3 sleep in percentage of total sleep time) were rated as moderate, 17 were rated as low and 20 were rated as very low. Conclusions The treatment of insomnia by rTMS has achieved certain effects in clinical practice, but the systematic review of rTMS as the main intervention measure for insomnia needs to further improve the quality and standardize related research. The clinical application of rTMS for insomnia should be treated as appropriate.
Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in treating stroke patients with motor dysfunction. Methods The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMbase, CBM, CNKI and WanFang Data were searched from inception to January 2012, and the references of the included studies were also retrieved to collect the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on rTMS in treating stroke patients with motor dysfunction. Two reviewers independently screened articles according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, extracted data and evaluated the quality of the included studies. Then meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.0.2 software, and evidence quality and recommendation level were assessed using the GRADE system. Results A total of 11 RCTs involving 376 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis (including 3 RCTs, low quality) showed that, compared with the routine rehabilitation treatment, 2 to 4 weeks of rTMS was much beneficial to stroke patients with motor dysfunction, with significant differences (WMD=11.02, 95%CI 2.56 to 19.47). The other 8 studies only adopted descriptive analysis accordingly. Conclusion It is still uncertain of the effectiveness of rTMS in improving motor dysfunction of stroke patients, so rTMS should be applied with caution in clinic.