Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721.
Program in Cognitive Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022 May 24;119(21):e2113778119. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2113778119. Epub 2022 May 20.
Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) during aging is often a harbinger of Alzheimer’s disease, and, therefore, early intervention to preserve cognitive abilities before the MCI symptoms become medically refractory is particularly critical. Functional MRI–guided transcranial magnetic stimulation is a promising approach for modulating hippocampal functional connectivity and enhancing memory in healthy adults. Here, we extend these previous findings to individuals with MCI and leverage theta burst stimulation (TBS) and white matter tractography derived from diffusion-weighted MRI to target the hippocampus. Our preliminary findings suggested that TBS could be used to improve associative memory performance and increase resting-state functional connectivity of the hippocampus and other brain regions, including the occipital fusiform, frontal orbital cortex, putamen, posterior parahippocampal gyrus, and temporal pole, along the inferior longitudinal fasciculus in MCI. Although the sample size is small, these results shed light on how TBS propagates from the superficial cortex around the parietal lobe to the hippocampus.
老年人轻度认知障碍（MCI）常常是阿尔茨海默病的先兆，因此，在 MCI 症状变得难以治疗之前，早期进行干预以保持认知能力尤为关键。功能磁共振成像引导下的经颅磁刺激是一种很有前途的方法，可以调节海马体的功能连接，增强健康成年人的记忆力。在这里，我们将这些先前的发现扩展到 MCI 个体，并利用源自弥散加权 MRI 的 theta 爆发刺激（TBS）和白质束追踪来靶向海马体。我们的初步研究结果表明，TBS 可以用于改善联想记忆表现，并增加 MCI 患者的海马体和其他脑区（包括枕梭状回、额眶回皮质、壳核、后海马旁回和颞极）的静息状态功能连接，沿着下纵束传播。尽管样本量较小，但这些结果揭示了 TBS 如何从顶叶周围的浅层皮层传播到海马体。
