Abstract
BackgroundRepetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has been proven to be a useful tool for the treatment of several severe neuropsychiatric disorders. Accelerated (a)rTMS protocols may have the potential to result in faster clinical improvements, but the effects of such accelerated paradigms on brain function remain to be elucidated.ObjectivesThis sham-controlled arTMS study aimed to evaluate the immediate and delayed effects of accelerated high frequency rTMS (aHF-rTMS) on glucose metabolism in healthy beagle dogs when applied over the left frontal cortex.MethodsTwenty-four dogs were randomly divided into four unequal groups: five active (n = 8)/ sham (n = 4) stimulation sessions (five sessions in 1 day), 20 active (n = 8)/ sham (n = 4) stimulation sessions (five sessions/ day for 4 days), respectively. [18F] FDG PET scans were obtained at baseline, 24 h poststimulation, after 1 and 3 months post the last stimulation session. We explicitly focused on four predefined regions of interest (left/right prefrontal cortex and left/right hippocampus).ResultsOne day of active aHF-rTMS- and not sham- significantly increased glucose metabolism 24 h post-active stimulation in the left frontal cortex only. Four days of active aHF-rTMS only resulted in a nearly significant metabolic decrease in the left hippocampus after 1 month.ConclusionsLike in human psychiatric disorders, active aHF-rTMS in healthy beagles modifies glucose metabolism, although differently immediately or after 1 month post stimulation. aHF-rTMS may be also a valid option to treat mentally disordered dogs.
Highlights
Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation is an FDAapproved, non-invasive neurostimulation technique, which has been widely used in human medicine for major depressive disorder, anxiety, and epilepsy [1,2,3,4], as well as in veterinary medicine for epilepsy and anxiety in dogs [5,6,7]
This study aimed to investigate the effect of 1-day active/sham and 4-day active/sham aHF-Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on cerebral glucose metabolism, as assessed by [18F]-FDG in healthy beagles
Given our a priori hypothesis that active and not sham aHF-rTMS would affect left hippocampal areas we further explored with the Wilcoxon signed-rank post hoc test, which revealed a near significant decrease of glucose metabolism 1 month poststimulation (z = −2.380, n(ties) = 8, p = 0.017, r = −0.60, 1 month post)
Summary
Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is an FDAapproved, non-invasive neurostimulation technique, which has been widely used in human medicine for major depressive disorder, anxiety, and epilepsy [1,2,3,4], as well as in veterinary medicine for epilepsy and anxiety in dogs [5,6,7]. In our former research, we have already proposed that dogs can be a robustly translational animal model for human medicine [6, 13]. According to this previous research using Hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime-SPECT (HMPAO-SPECT), high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (HF-rTMS) applied to the left frontal cortex alters regional cerebral perfusion in healthy dogs [14]. Similar changes have been observed in humans [1, 16] This strengthens the idea that further functional imaging techniques in dogs could be used to investigate the underlying neurobiological mechanisms, but it can be used for the refinement of more effective rTMS treatment parameters in men and dogs. Accelerated (a)rTMS protocols may have the potential to result in faster clinical improvements, but the effects of such accelerated paradigms on brain function remain to be elucidated
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