Aguila Jordi, Cudeiro Javier, Rivadulla Casto
Neuroscience and Motor Control Group, NEUROcom, Department of Medicine, University of Coruna and Biomedical Research Institute of A Coruna (INIBIC), Campus de Oza, 15006 Coruña, Spain.
Cereb Cortex. 2016 Feb;26(2):628-638. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhu228. Epub 2014 Sep 26.
Noninvasive brain stimulation techniques have been successfully used to modulate brain activity, have become a highly useful tool in basic and clinical research and, recently, have attracted increased attention due to their putative use as a method for neuro-enhancement. In this scenario, transcranial static magnetic stimulation (SMS) of moderate strength might represent an affordable, simple, and complementary method to other procedures, such as Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation or direct current stimulation, but its mechanisms and effects are not thoroughly understood. In this study, we show that static magnetic fields applied to visual cortex of awake primates cause reversible deficits in a visual detection task. Complementary experiments in anesthetized cats show that the visual deficits are a consequence of a strong reduction in neural activity. These results demonstrate that SMS is able to effectively modulate neuronal activity and could be considered to be a tool to be used for different purposes ranging from experimental studies to clinical applications.
非侵入性脑刺激技术已成功用于调节大脑活动，成为基础研究和临床研究中非常有用的工具，并且最近因其作为一种神经增强方法的假定用途而受到越来越多的关注。在这种情况下，中等强度的经颅静磁刺激（SMS）可能是一种经济实惠、简单且可作为其他程序（如经颅磁刺激或直流电刺激）补充的方法，但其机制和效果尚未完全了解。在本研究中，我们表明，施加于清醒灵长类动物视觉皮层的静磁场会导致视觉检测任务中出现可逆性缺陷。在麻醉猫身上进行的补充实验表明，视觉缺陷是神经活动大幅减少的结果。这些结果表明，经颅静磁刺激能够有效调节神经元活动，可被视为一种用于从实验研究到临床应用等不同目的的工具。
