title: Θ-burst stimulation and striatal plasticity in experimental parkinsonism.
abstract: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in humans increases levels of dopamine (DA) in the vicinity of highly active corticostriatal terminals suggesting its use to alleviate symptoms in Parkinson's disease (PD). However, the effects of rTMS on corticostriatal plasticity have not been explored. Here we show that a single-session of cortical rTMS using intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS) pattern increases striatal excitability and rescues corticostriatal long-term depression (LTD) in a significant number of field excitatory postsynaptic potentials (fEPSP) recorded from hemiparkinsonian rats. These data indicate that cortical iTBS affects neuronal activity of subcortical regions, providing experimental evidence for its use in clinical settings.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio di Neurofisiologia, Fondazione Santa Lucia, IRCCS, via del Fosso di Fiorano 65, 00143 Rome, Italy. v.ghiglieri@hsantalucia.it
authors.forename: Veronica
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ghiglieri
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pendolino
authors.forename: Carmelo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sgobio
authors.forename: Vincenza
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bagetta
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Picconi
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Calabresi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000502:physiology*; D019706:Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D020734:Parkinsonian Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013826:Theta Rhythm / Q000502:physiology*