Chinese Medical Journal (Jan 2018)

Effects of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Treatment on Event-Related Potentials in Schizophrenia

  • Xiao-Dong Lin,
  • Xing-Shi Chen,
  • Ce Chen,
  • Li-Jun Zhang,
  • Zuo-Liang Xie,
  • Zi-Ye Huang,
  • Guang-Dong Chen,
  • Wan-Tao Ding,
  • Zhi-Guang Lin,
  • Ming-Dao Zhang,
  • Chong Chen,
  • Rong-Qin Wu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.4103/0366-6999.223846
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 131, no. 3
pp. 301 – 306

Abstract

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Background: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and event-related potentials (ERPs) are a noninvasive technique that widely used in neurophysiological field. Although rTMS has shown clinical utility for a number of neurological conditions, Recently,there was little understanding of the the efficacy of rTMS on Schizophrenia(SZ) and the change of ERP between before and after rTMS treatment. The objective of this study was to investigate the characteristics of N400, mismatch negativity (MMN), and P300 before and after treatment with rTMS in SZ. Methods: One hundred and twenty-seven SZ patients hospitalized in Shanghai Mental Health Center from March 2015 to July 2017, divided into two groups (85 patients were recruited as rTMS group and 42 were recruited as sham rTMS [ShrTMS] group) and 76 normal controls (NCs) who were the staff and refresher staff in our hospital were recruited at the same time. A Chinese-made rTMS and a Runjie WJ-1 ERPs instrument were used in the present experiment. N400 was elicited by congruent and noncongruent Chinese idioms. After rTMS treatment, N400, P300, and MMN characteristics were compared with those before treatment and NC group. Results: Compared with NC, the SZ patients exhibited delays in N400, P300, and MMN latency and decreased N400, P300, and MMN amplitudes in their frontal area (P 0.05). Amplitudes for MMN and target P300 also increased in SZ patients after rTMS treatment (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Based on our preliminary findings, we believe that the combined usage of N400, MMN, and P300 could be a valuable index and an electrophysiological reference in evaluating the effects of rTMS treatment in SZ patients.

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