Longitudinal changes of motor cortical excitability and transcallosal inhibition after subcortical stroke

Motor circuit reorganization in the cerebral cortex is known to contribute to recovery following stroke. This reorganization can be examined by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) using measures of corticospinal and intracortical excitability (Liepert et al., 2000; Shimizu et al., 2002; Liepert et al., 2005; Talelli et al., 2006; Wittenberg et al., 2007; Bütefisch et al., 2008; Manganotti et al., 2008; Swayne et al., 2008; Takeuchi et al., 2010). TMS measures such as motor threshold (MT) and recruitment curve (RC) reflect corticospinal excitability, whereas intracortical excitability is reflected by cortical silent period (cSP), and short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) and intracortical facilitation (ICF), which is assessed by the paired-pulse TMS technique (Kujirai et al., 1993).

Source: Clinical Neurophysiology - March 3, 2014 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Utako Takechi, Kaoru Matsunaga, Ryoji Nakanishi, Hiroaki Yamanaga, Nobuki Murayama, Kosuke Mafune, Sadatoshi Tsuji Source Type: research