title: Intracortical inhibition and facilitation in paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation: effect of conditioning stimulus intensity on sizes and latencies of motor evoked potentials.
abstract: The influence of the intensity of the conditioning stimulus on intracortical inhibition (ICI) and intracortical facilitation (ICF) was assessed in a study using paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation. Interstimulus intervals (ISIs) between conditioning and test stimuli were 3 msec and 13 msec. Latencies and areas of motor evoked potentials in response to the test stimulus were measured in the right extensor carpi radialis muscle. Motor evoked potential areas with ISIs of 3 msec and 13 msec showed a different dependence on the intensity of the conditioning stimulus. In contrast, the changes of motor evoked potential latencies were fairly similar with both ISIs. The findings point to a parallel action of ICI and ICF. Furthermore, the latencies seem to be a more sensitive indicator for ICF action than the size parameters of motor evoked potentials.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biophysics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Andon R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Kossev
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Siggelkow
authors.forename: Reinhard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dengler
authors.forename: Jens D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Rollnik
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*; D000328:Adult; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D004576:Electromyography; D019054:Evoked Potentials, Motor / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005542:Forearm / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology*; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation