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BOLD fMRI response to direct stimulation (transcranial magnetic stimulation) of the motor cortex shows no decline with age

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Summary.

Previous studies using BOLD fMRI to examine age-related changes in cortical activation used tasks that relied on peripheral systems to activate the brain. They were unable to distinguish between alterations due to age-related changes in the periphery and actual changes in cortical physiology. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), which allows direct, noninvasive stimulation of cortical neurons, was interleaved with BOLD fMRI to study 6 young and 5 old subjects. Three different tasks were compared: direct stimulation by TMS, indirect active stimulation produced by a motor task, and indirect passive stimulation produced by hearing the TMS coil discharge.

Direct neuronal stimulation by TMS produced similar fMRI signal increases in both groups, suggesting that cortical physiology itself may not necessarily decline with age.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Radiology,, , , , , , US

    K. A. McConnell, D. E. Bohning, A. Shastri, M. P. Lomarev, D. J. Vincent & M. S. George

  2. Psychiatry, and, , , , , , US

    Z. Nahas, C. Teneback & J. P. Lorberbaum

Authors
  1. K. A. McConnell
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  2. D. E. Bohning
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  3. Z. Nahas
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  4. A. Shastri
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  5. C. Teneback
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  6. J. P. Lorberbaum
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  7. M. P. Lomarev
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  8. D. J. Vincent
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  9. M. S. George
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Additional information

Received February 22, 2002; accepted December 4, 2002 Published online March 5, 2003

Acknowledgements Research collaborations with Picker International, Dantec (Medtronic). Partial equipment and salary support from the National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD) (Dr. George) and the Ted and Vada Stanley Foundation (Drs. George, Bohning, and Ms. McConnell). Ms. Teneback was funded through NIAAA Center Grant ®AA10761-03. The authors thank Dr. E. Wassermann for a helpful and critical review of this manuscript.

Authors' address: M. S. George, MD, Radiology Department, Medical University of South Carolina, 171 Ashley Avenue, Charleston, SC 29425, U.S.A., e-mail: georgem@musc.edu

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McConnell, K., Bohning, D., Nahas, Z. et al. BOLD fMRI response to direct stimulation (transcranial magnetic stimulation) of the motor cortex shows no decline with age. J Neural Transm 110, 495–507 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-002-0804-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-002-0804-6

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