Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, 3801 University Street, Montréal, QC, H3A 2B4, Canada.
NeXT: Neurophysiology and Neuro-Engineering of Human-Technology Interaction Research Unit, Campus Bio-Medico University, Via Alvaro del Portillo, 200, 00128, Rome, Italy.
Sci Rep. 2022 Jul 30;12(1):13108. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-17055-9.
Auditory white noise (WN) is widely used in neuroscience to mask unwanted environmental noise and cues, e.g. TMS clicks. However, to date there is no research on the influence of WN on corticospinal excitability and potentially associated sensorimotor integration itself. Here we tested the hypothesis, if WN induces M1 excitability changes and improves sensorimotor performance. M1 excitability (spTMS, SICI, ICF, I/O curve) and sensorimotor reaction-time performance were quantified before, during and after WN stimulation in a set of experiments performed in a cohort of 61 healthy subjects. WN enhanced M1 corticospinal excitability, not just during exposure, but also during silence periods intermingled with WN, and up to several minutes after the end of exposure. Two independent behavioural experiments highlighted that WN improved multimodal sensorimotor performance. The enduring excitability modulation combined with the effects on behaviour suggest that WN might induce neural plasticity. WN is thus a relevant modulator of corticospinal function; its neurobiological effects should not be neglected and could in fact be exploited in research applications.
听觉白噪声（WN）广泛应用于神经科学，用于屏蔽不需要的环境噪声和提示，例如 TMS 咔哒声。然而，迄今为止，尚无研究探讨 WN 对皮质脊髓兴奋性及其潜在相关的感觉运动整合本身的影响。在这里，我们检验了如下假设：WN 是否会引起 M1 兴奋性变化并改善感觉运动性能。在一组 61 名健康受试者的实验中，我们在 WN 刺激之前、期间和之后定量测量了 M1 兴奋性（spTMS、SICI、ICF、I/O 曲线）和感觉运动反应时间性能。WN 增强了 M1 皮质脊髓兴奋性，不仅在暴露期间，而且在与 WN 混合的静默期间，甚至在暴露结束后几分钟内也是如此。两项独立的行为学实验强调，WN 改善了多模态感觉运动性能。持久的兴奋性调制与行为影响相结合表明，WN 可能诱导神经可塑性。因此，WN 是皮质脊髓功能的重要调节剂；其神经生物学效应不应被忽视，实际上可以在研究应用中加以利用。
