Abstract
Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation technique, which can alter cortical excitability in human subjects for hours beyond the period of stimulation. Therefore, it has therapeutic potential in neurological and psychiatric disorders associated with alterations in cortical excitability. However, rTMS-induced effects remain poorly understood at the molecular and cellular level. This presentation will provide a review on recent findings from other groups on repetitive magnetic stimulation effects on immediate early gene expression (such as c-fos and zif268), protein expression (such as parvalbumin and calbindin in inhibitory interneurons), or markers of neuroplasticity (such as BDNF and GluR1 subunit of AMPA receptor). Furthermore, recent evidence from our group will be provided that repetitive magnetic stimulation can induce a long-lasting increase in glutamatergic synaptic strength, which is accompanied by structural remodeling of dendritic spines and postsynaptic NMDA-receptor-mediated accumulation of GluA1-containing AMPA-receptors. Together, there is accumulating evidence that the repetitive magnetic stimulation induces specific changes of gene and protein regulation and ultimately functional and structural synaptic plasticity at the cellular level. Repetitive magnetic stimulation in small animals, slices and cell cultures may provide useful experimental models for development and prediction of therapeutically effective rTMS protocols in humans.
Published Version
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