Rurak B K, Rodrigues J P, Power B D, Drummond P D, Vallence A M
Discipline of Psychology, College of Science, Health, Engineering, and Education, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia.
Centre for Healthy Ageing, Health Futures Institute, Murdoch University, 90 South Street, Perth, WA, 6150, Australia.
Cerebellum. 2022 Feb;21(1):23-38. doi: 10.1007/s12311-021-01267-2. Epub 2021 Apr 20.
Dual-site transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) can be used to measure the cerebellar inhibitory influence on the primary motor cortex, known as cerebellar brain inhibition (CBI), which is thought to be important for motor control. The aim of this study was to determine whether age-related differences in CBI (measured at rest) were associated with an age-related decline in bilateral motor control measured using the Purdue Pegboard task, the Four Square Step Test, and a 10-m walk. In addition, we examined test re-test reliability of CBI measured using dual-site TMS with a figure-of-eight coil in two sessions. There were three novel findings. First, CBI was less in older than in younger adults, which is likely underpinned by an age-related loss of Purkinje cells. Second, greater CBI was associated with faster 10-m walking performance in older adults, but slower 10-m walking performance in younger adults. Third, moderate intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs: 0.53) were found for CBI in younger adults; poor ICCs were found for CBI (ICC: 0.40) in older adults. Together, these results have important implications for the use of dual-site TMS to increase our understanding of age- and disease-related changes in cortical motor networks, and the role of functional connectivity in motor control.
双位点经颅磁刺激（TMS）可用于测量小脑对初级运动皮层的抑制性影响，即所谓的小脑脑抑制（CBI），人们认为这对运动控制很重要。本研究的目的是确定CBI（静息时测量）的年龄相关差异是否与使用普渡钉板任务、四方步测试和10米步行测量的双侧运动控制的年龄相关下降有关。此外，我们在两个阶段检查了使用双位点TMS和8字线圈测量的CBI的重测信度。有三个新发现。第一，老年人的CBI低于年轻人，这可能是由于与年龄相关的浦肯野细胞损失所致。第二，在老年人中，较高的CBI与更快的10米步行表现相关，但在年轻人中则与较慢的10米步行表现相关。第三，在年轻人中发现CBI的组内相关系数适中（ICC：0.53）；在老年人中发现CBI的ICC较差（ICC：0.40）。总之，这些结果对于使用双位点TMS来增进我们对皮层运动网络中与年龄和疾病相关变化的理解，以及功能连接在运动控制中的作用具有重要意义。
