Authors: Rozaliya Bikmullina Dubravko Kičić Synnöve Carlson Vadim V Nikulin
Publish Date: 2009/02/25
Volume: 194, Issue: 4, Pages: 517-526
Abstract
Cutaneous stimulation produces shortlatency afferent inhibition SAI of motorevoked potentials MEPs elicited by transcranial magnetic stimulation TMS Since the demonstration of SAI is primarily based on the attenuation of MEPs its cortical origin is not yet fully understood In the present study we combined TMS with concurrent electroencephalography EEG in order to obtain direct cortical correlates of SAI TMSevoked EEG responses and MEPs were analysed with and without preceding electrical stimulation of the index finger cutaneous afferents in ten healthy volunteers We show that the attenuation of MEPs by cutaneous stimulation has its counterpart in the attenuation of the N100 EEG response Moreover the attenuation of the cortical N100 component correlated positively with the strength of SAI indicating that the transient changes in cortical excitability can be reflected in the amplitude dynamics of MEPs We hypothesize that the hyperpolarization of the pyramidal cells due to SAI lowers the capacity of TMS to induce the inhibitory current needed to elicit N100 thus leading to its attenuation We suggest that the observed interaction of two inhibitory processes SAI and N100 provides further evidence for the cortical origin of SAIThis study was supported by Centre for International Mobility CIMO Finland Instrumentarium Science Foundation Finland Signe and Ane Gyllenberg Foundation Finland and the Academy of Finland National Center of Excellence Program and the Neuro Program Dr Vadim V Nikulin was supported by the Berlin Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience We are grateful to Dr Ilkka Linnankoski for his comments on language
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