title: Functional involvement of central nervous system in acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease A preliminary transcranial magnetic stimulation study.
abstract: We used transcranial magnetic stimulation to evaluate cortical excitability in acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Patients affected by COPD were studied during acute exacerbation that required hospital admission and 3-4 months after oxygen therapy. Their data were compared with those of age-matched healthy controls. Intracortical inhibition and cortical silent period duration were significantly reduced in patients during acute exacerbation of COPD. These findings could reflect impairment of GABAergic cortical circuits during hypoxia.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Neurologia, Università Cattolica, L.go A. Gemelli 8, 00168 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Oliviero
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Corbo
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Tonali
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pilato
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Saturno
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dileone
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Versace
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Valente
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Di Lazzaro
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000503:physiopathology; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000503:physiopathology*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric