Ten Years of Theta Burst Stimulation in Humans: Established Knowledge, Unknowns and Prospects

A Suppa; Y-Z Huang; K Funke; M C Ridding; B Cheeran; V Di Lazzaro; U Ziemann; J C Rothwell

doi:10.1016/j.brs.2016.01.006

Ten Years of Theta Burst Stimulation in Humans: Established Knowledge, Unknowns and Prospects

Brain Stimul. 2016 May-Jun;9(3):323-335. doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2016.01.006. Epub 2016 Jan 27.

Authors

A Suppa¹, Y-Z Huang², K Funke³, M C Ridding⁴, B Cheeran⁵, V Di Lazzaro⁶, U Ziemann⁷, J C Rothwell⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy; Neuromed Institute, IRCCS Pozzilli (IS), Rome, Italy. Electronic address: antonio.suppa@uniroma1.it.
² Department of Neurology, Neuroscience Research Center, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
³ Department of Neurophysiology, Medical Faculty, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
⁴ The Robinson Research Institute, School of Medicine, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia.
⁵ Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
⁶ Institute of Neurology, Campus Biomedico University, Rome, Italy; Fondazione Alberto Sordi - Research Institute for Ageing, Rome, Italy.
⁷ Department of Neurology & Stroke, Hertie-Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
⁸ Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience and Movement Disorders, Institute of Neurology, University College London, Queen Square, London, UK.

PMID: 26947241
DOI: 10.1016/j.brs.2016.01.006

Abstract

Background/objectives: Over the last ten years, an increasing number of authors have used the theta burst stimulation (TBS) protocol to investigate long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD)-like plasticity non-invasively in the primary motor cortex (M1) in healthy humans and in patients with various types of movement disorders. We here provide a comprehensive review of the LTP/LTD-like plasticity induced by TBS in the human M1.

Methods: A workgroup of researchers expert in this research field review and discuss critically ten years of experimental evidence from TBS studies in humans and in animal models. The review also includes the discussion of studies assessing responses to TBS in patients with movement disorders.

Main findings/discussion: We discuss experimental studies applying TBS over the M1 or in other cortical regions functionally connected to M1 in healthy subjects and in patients with various types of movement disorders. We also review experimental evidence coming from TBS studies in animals. Finally, we clarify the status of TBS as a possible new non-invasive therapy aimed at improving symptoms in various neurological disorders.

Keywords: Animal model; Plasticity; Primary motor cortex; Theta burst stimulation.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Adult
Animals
Evoked Potentials, Motor / physiology*
Female
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Humans
Long-Term Potentiation / physiology*
Motor Cortex / physiology
Motor Cortex / physiopathology
Movement Disorders / physiopathology*
Movement Disorders / therapy
Neuronal Plasticity / physiology
Theta Rhythm / physiology*
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation* / methods