Differences of cortical excitability between Parkinson’s disease patients and healthy subjects. A comparative TMS study

Abstract

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a neurophysiological technique employed to assess the functional cortico-spinal integrity of healthy subjects, as well as the changes occurred due to various pathologies (multiple sclerosis, stroke, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, agenesis of the corpus callosum, movements disorders, migraine, depression, schizophrenia). In Parkinson’s disease (PD), single-pulse TMS provides valuable information on intracortical inhibition and facilitation mechanism alteration. A comparative analysis conducted on two groups of Parkinson’s disease patients and healthy volunteers reveals a reduction of the electrical cortical silent period (which is an intracortical inhibition marker) and a facilitation decrease in the motor areas corresponding to the upper limbs (UL) in PD patients.

Keywords

• transcranial magnetic stimulation
• parkinson’s disease
• cortical silent period
• transcallosal inhibition
• intracortical facilitation