title: Frontoparietal regions may become hypoactive after intermittent theta burst stimulation over the contralateral homologous cortex in humans.
abstract: Brain injury to the dorsal frontoparietal networks, including the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), commonly cause spatial neglect. However, the interaction of these different regions in spatial attention is unclear. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether hyperexcitable neural networks can cause an abnormal interhemispheric inhibition. The Attention Network Test was used to test subjects following intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) to the left or right frontoparietal networks. During the Attention Network Test task, all subjects tolerated each conditioning iTBS without any obvious iTBS-related side effects. Subjects receiving real-right-PPC iTBS showed significant enhancement in both alerting and orienting efficiency compared with those receiving either sham-right-PPC iTBS or real-left-PPC iTBS. Moreover, subjects exposed to the real-right-DLPFC iTBS exhibited significant improvement in both alerting and executive control efficiency, compared with those exposed to either the sham-right-DLPFC or real-left-DLPFC conditioning. Interestingly, compared with subjects exposed to the sham-left-PPC stimuli, subjects exposed to the real-left-PPC iTBS had a significant deficit in the orienting index. The present study indicates that iTBS over the contralateral homologous cortex may induce the hypoactivity of the right PPC through interhemispheric competition in spatial orienting attention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China;
authors.forename: Xiaofei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lan
authors.forename: Guangqing
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Yurong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.forename: Zhenghong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Dongfeng
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Zhong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Pei
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D013826:Theta Rhythm; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: competition; facilitation; frontoparietal networks; spatial attention; theta burst stimulation