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Is the Cerebellum a Potential Target for Stimulation in Parkinson's Disease? Results of 1-Hz rTMS on Upper Limb Motor Tasks

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to find whether 1-Hz cerebellar repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) could affect upper limb movement in early-stage Parkinson's disease (PD). Twenty patients with PD underwent one session with real and one with sham rTMS. rTMS (1 Hz, 600 pulses) was targeted at the right lateral cerebellum. Before and after rTMS, patients performed two motor tests with their fingers and hands (ball test, nine-hole peg test). The duration of these tests was measured. There were statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) in the results of the tests after real stimulation and sham stimulation. We excluded the impact of learning. After real rTMS, we observed a significantly faster response in the ball test and a slower response in the nine-hole peg test, both on the right upper limb. This study indicates the influence of 1-Hz cerebellar rTMS in modifying the voluntary movements of the upper limb in PD. This influence is differentiated: the improvement of gross motor skills and the worsening of fine motor skills.

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Abbreviations

ICI:

Intracortical inhibition

ICF:

Intracortical facilitation

ISI:

Interstimulus interval

MEP:

Motor-evoked potentials

PD:

Parkinson's disease

rTMS:

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation

SD:

Standard deviation

TMS:

Transcranial magnetic stimulation

UPDRS:

Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank our colleagues Marie Kopíčková, Eva Cejpková, Mgr. Martina Tarasová, Ph.D., Ing. Michal Mikl, Ph.D., Ing. Pavel Daniel, Petra Krainerová, Anna Hlučková, PhDr. Petra Bartoňová, Ph.D., Mgr. Radka Kubíková, Mgr. Zuzana Hummelová (Fanfrdlová), MUDr. Marek Baláž, Ph.D. and MUDr. Hana Srovnalová from the First Department of Neurology, St. Anne's University Hospital and School of Medicine in Brno for their cooperation and assistance in the implementation of transcranial magnetic stimulation. We also thank MUDr. Alexandra Minksová for her help with editing the data and text and above all for creating the conditions for writing this article.

Funding organizations

This study was supported by MSM0021622404 from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic.

Financial disclosure

The authors have nothing to disclose.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. First Department of Neurology, St. Anne’s University Hospital and School of Medicine, Masaryk University, Pekařská 53, 656 91, Brno, Czech Republic

    Eduard Minks, Radek Mareček & Martin Bareš

  2. Institute of Biostatistics and Analyses at the School of Medicine and the School of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

    Tomáš Pavlík & Petra Ovesná

  3. Movement Disorders Centre, St. Anne’s University Hospital, Brno, Czech Republic

    Martin Bareš

Authors
  1. Eduard Minks
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  2. Radek Mareček
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  4. Petra Ovesná
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  5. Martin Bareš
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Correspondence to Eduard Minks.

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Minks, E., Mareček, R., Pavlík, T. et al. Is the Cerebellum a Potential Target for Stimulation in Parkinson's Disease? Results of 1-Hz rTMS on Upper Limb Motor Tasks. Cerebellum 10, 804–811 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12311-011-0290-1

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