Li Jiali, Ren Meng, Wang Wenjing, Xu Shutian, Zhang Sicong, Li Yuanli, Shan Chunlei
Center of Rehabilitation, Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China.
School of Rehabilitation Science, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China.
Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2020 Dec 23;2020:8824530. doi: 10.1155/2020/8824530. eCollection 2020.
Intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) is a widely used noninvasive brain stimulation for the facilitation of corticospinal excitability (CSE). Previous studies have shown that acupuncture applied to acupoints associated with motor function in healthy people can reduce the amplitude of the motor-evoked potentials (MEPs), which reflects the inhibition of CSE. In our work, we wanted to test whether the combination of iTBS and electroacupuncture (EA) would have different effects on CSE in humans.
A single-blind sham-controlled crossover design study was conducted on 20 healthy subjects. Subjects received 20 minutes' sham or real EA stimulation immediately after sham or real iTBS. MEPs, short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI), intracortical facilitation (ICF), cortical silent period (CSP), and central motor conduction time (CMCT) were recorded before each trial, and immediately, 20 minutes, and 40 minutes after the end of stimulation.
In the sham iTBS group, EA produced a reduction in MEPs amplitude, lasting approximately 40 minutes, while in the real iTBS group, EA significantly increased MEPs amplitude beyond 40 minutes after the end of stimulation. In sham EA group, the recorded MEPs amplitude showed no significant trend over time compared to baseline. Among all experiments, there were no significant changes in SICI, ICF, CSP, CMCT, etc.
These data indicate that immediate application of EA after iTBS significantly increased corticospinal excitability. This trial was registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (registration no. ChiCTR1900025348).
间歇性θ波爆发刺激（iTBS）是一种广泛应用的非侵入性脑刺激方法，用于促进皮质脊髓兴奋性（CSE）。先前的研究表明，对健康人应用与运动功能相关的穴位进行针刺可降低运动诱发电位（MEP）的波幅，这反映了对CSE的抑制作用。在我们的研究中，我们想测试iTBS与电针（EA）联合应用对人体CSE是否会产生不同的影响。
对20名健康受试者进行单盲、假对照交叉设计研究。受试者在接受假或真的iTBS刺激后立即接受20分钟的假或真的EA刺激。在每次试验前、刺激结束后即刻、20分钟和40分钟记录MEP、短间隔皮质内抑制（SICI）、皮质内易化（ICF）、皮质静息期（CSP）和中枢运动传导时间（CMCT）。
在假iTBS组中，EA使MEP波幅降低，持续约40分钟，而在真iTBS组中，EA在刺激结束后40分钟以上显著增加MEP波幅。在假EA组中，记录的MEP波幅与基线相比随时间无显著变化趋势。在所有实验中，SICI、ICF、CSP、CMCT等均无显著变化。
这些数据表明，iTBS后立即应用EA可显著增加皮质脊髓兴奋性。本试验已在中国临床试验注册中心注册（注册号：ChiCTR1900025348）。
