Central Clinical School Department of Psychiatry, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Central Clinical School Department of Psychiatry, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Monarch Research Institute, Monarch Mental Health Group, Sydney, NSW, Australia; School of Medicine and Psychology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
Behav Brain Res. 2023 Mar 28;442:114308. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2023.114308. Epub 2023 Jan 23.
The ability of the brain to recover following neurological insult is of interest for mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) populations. Investigating whether non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) can modulate neurophysiology and cognition may lead to the development of therapeutic interventions post injury. The purpose of this study was to investigate neurobiological effects of one session of intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in participants recovering from mTBI.
Changes to neurophysiology were assessed with electroencephalography (EEG) and transcranial magnetic stimulation combined with EEG (TMS-EEG). Digit span working memory accuracy assessed cognitive performance. 30 patients were assessed within one-month of sustaining a mTBI and 26 demographically matched controls were assessed. Participants were also assessed at 3-months (mTBI: N = 21, control: N = 26) and 6-months (mTBI: N = 15, control: N = 24).
Analyses demonstrated iTBS did not reliably modulate neurophysiological activity, and no differences in cognitive performance were produced by iTBS at any assessment time-point.
Factors responsible for our null results are unclear. Possible limitations to our experimental design are discussed.
Our findings suggest additional research is required to establish the effects of iTBS on plasticity following mTBI, prior to therapeutic application.
We do not have ethical approval to make this data publicly available, as our approval predated our inclusion of such approvals (which we now do routinely).
大脑在神经损伤后的恢复能力是轻度创伤性脑损伤（mTBI）人群关注的焦点。研究非侵入性脑刺激（NIBS）是否可以调节神经生理学和认知能力，可能会导致损伤后治疗干预的发展。本研究的目的是研究单次间歇性经颅磁刺激（iTBS）对 mTBI 后恢复患者背外侧前额叶皮层（DLPFC）的神经生物学效应。
通过脑电图（EEG）和经颅磁刺激与脑电图结合（TMS-EEG）评估神经生理学变化。数字跨度工作记忆准确性评估认知表现。在 mTBI 后一个月内评估了 30 名患者，并且评估了 26 名年龄匹配的对照组。还在 3 个月（mTBI：N=21，对照组：N=26）和 6 个月（mTBI：N=15，对照组：N=24）进行了评估。
分析表明，iTBS 不能可靠地调节神经生理活动，并且 iTBS 在任何评估时间点都没有产生认知表现的差异。
导致我们的结果为阴性的因素尚不清楚。讨论了我们实验设计的可能限制。
我们的发现表明，在将 iTBS 应用于 mTBI 后的可塑性之前，需要进行更多的研究以确定 iTBS 的效果。
我们没有获得将此数据公开的伦理批准，因为我们的批准早于我们现在通常进行的此类批准（现在我们通常进行此类批准）。
