title: Age dependence of primary motor cortex plasticity induced by paired associative stimulation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The increase of elderly population prompted growing research for the understanding of cerebral phenomena sustaining learning abilities, with inclusion of long-term potentiation (LTP)-like plasticity phenomena. Aim of the present study was to characterize LTP-like plasticity dependence on age and gender.
  
  
  METHODS
  A LTP-like primary motor cortex plasticity inducing a potentiation of the motor evoked potential (MEP) to focal transcranial magnetic stimulation as a consequence of a paired associative stimulation (PAS) was induced in a 50 healthy subject cohort, equally distributed for gender and age groups (25 young subjects, mean age+/-SD=29.8+/-4.5 years; elderly 61.1+/-4.1 years).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Resting motor thresholds' excitability level increased in the elderly group, the basal MEP did not depend on gender or age. The PAS-induced primary motor cortex (M1) plastic excitability modulation was similar in young females and males, while it decreased with age in females only.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A reduction of the PAS-induced M1 plasticity in females after menopause was documented, possibly due to an impairment of intracortical excitatory network activity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A LTP-like plasticity dependence on age was found in female only, suggesting caution in interpreting behavioural studies on learning abilities in dependence on age.
authors.affiliation: ISTC-CNR, Franca Tecchio, Unità MEG, Fatebenefratelli Hospital, Isola Tiberina, 00186 Roma, Italy; Casa di Cura San Raffaele Cassino e IRCCS San Raffaele Pisana, Italy. Electronic address: franca.tecchio@istc.cnr.it.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tecchio
authors.affiliation: ISTC-CNR, Franca Tecchio, Unità MEG, Fatebenefratelli Hospital, Isola Tiberina, 00186 Roma, Italy; AFaR, Fatebenefratelli Hospital, Isola Tiberina, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zappasodi
authors.affiliation: AFaR, Fatebenefratelli Hospital, Isola Tiberina, Roma, Italy; Casa di Cura San Raffaele Cassino e IRCCS San Raffaele Pisana, Italy.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pasqualetti
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University 'Sapienza', Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: L De
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gennaro
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, IRCCS "Centro San Giovanni di Dio - FBF", Brescia, Italy.
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Pellicciari
authors.affiliation: AFaR, Fatebenefratelli Hospital, Isola Tiberina, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ercolani
authors.affiliation: AFaR, Fatebenefratelli Hospital, Isola Tiberina, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Squitti
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, 'Campus Bio-Medico' University, Roma, Italy; AFaR, Fatebenefratelli Hospital, Isola Tiberina, Roma, Italy; Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, IRCCS "Centro San Giovanni di Dio - FBF", Brescia, Italy.
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Rossini
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D004576:Electromyography / Q000379:methods; D019054:Evoked Potentials, Motor / Q000502:physiology / Q000528:radiation effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation