title: Exercise-induced strengthening of inter-digital connections in musicians.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate whether finger exercise affects surround inhibition in professional musicians as it was previously observed in non-musicians, we performed a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) study in 13 healthy right-handed professional musicians.
  
  
  METHODS
  TMS was set to be triggered by self-initiated flexion of the index finger at 3 ms after electromyography onset (self-triggered TMS). Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) of the abductor digiti minimi (ADM) were measured before and at 0, 10, 20 and 30 min after 'single' (little finger abduction) and 'dual' (both index finger flexion and little finger abduction) exercise at 0.5 Hz for 30 min.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Control and self-triggered MEPs were not different between the two exercise sessions. MEP enhancements were significantly greater in self-triggered TMS than control TMS after single exercise as well as dual exercise.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This result demonstrates that MEP enhancement in self-triggered TMS was comparable between two exercise sessions in professional musicians, a result different from that observed in healthy non-musicians. Enhanced self-triggered MEPs after isolated finger exercise suggest that inter-digital cortical connections are strengthened in musicians, presumably due to previous musical training.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Inter-digital cortical connections are strengthened in musicians and are not differently modulated by different types of short-term finger exercise.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Brain Research Institute, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Suk Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hallett
authors.forename: Young H
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Sohn
mesh_terms: D004576:Electromyography; D019054:Evoked Potentials, Motor / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005385:Fingers / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D053580:Muscle Strength; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology; D009146:Music / Q000523:psychology*; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000502:physiology*; D055070:Resistance Training; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Motor-evoked potential; Musician; Surround inhibition; TMS