Casarotto Silvia, Määttä Sara, Herukka Sanna-Kaisa, Pigorini Andrea, Napolitani Martino, Gosseries Olivia, Niskanen Eini, Könönen Mervi, Mervaala Esa, Rosanova Mario, Soininen Hilkka, Massimini Marcello
Department of Clinical Sciences L. Sacco Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy.
Neuroreport. 2011 Aug 24;22(12):592-7. doi: 10.1097/WNR.0b013e328349433a.
The frontal cortex undergoes macrostructural and microstructural changes across the lifespan. These changes can be entirely physiological, such as the ones occurring in elderly individuals who are cognitively intact, or pathological, such as the ones occurring in patients with Alzheimer's disease. Here, we use simultaneous electroencephalography (EEG) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to study how the excitability of the frontal cortex changes during healthy and pathological aging. Hence, we compared the TMS-evoked EEG potentials collected in healthy elderly individuals with the ones collected in healthy young individuals, and in patients with Alzheimer's disease. We have shown that the EEG response to TMS of the left superior frontal cortex is not affected by physiological aging but is markedly altered by cognitive impairment.
额叶皮质在整个生命周期中会经历宏观结构和微观结构的变化。这些变化可能完全是生理性的，比如在认知功能完好的老年人身上发生的变化；也可能是病理性的，比如在阿尔茨海默病患者身上发生的变化。在此，我们使用同步脑电图（EEG）和经颅磁刺激（TMS）来研究在健康衰老和病理性衰老过程中额叶皮质的兴奋性是如何变化的。因此，我们将健康老年人与健康年轻人以及阿尔茨海默病患者所收集的经颅磁刺激诱发的脑电图电位进行了比较。我们已经表明，左侧额上回皮质对经颅磁刺激的脑电图反应不受生理性衰老的影响，但会因认知障碍而显著改变。
