Effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in depression: a magnetoencephalographic study

Recently, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation has evolved as a potential therapeutic tool to interfere with brain changes associated with neurological and psychiatric diseases. Little is known about its mode of action, however. Here, we investigated effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on spontaneous magnetoencephalographic activity in patients with major depression. Before treatment, depressed patients showed a significant increase in slow magnetoencephalographic activity (2–6 Hz) over the left prefrontal cortex, compared with healthy controls. This activity significantly decreased during 10 days of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, paralleled by clinical improvement. We conclude that therapeutic repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation effects can be mirrored by changes of spontaneous magnetoencephalographic activity.

[1]  A. Beck,et al.  An inventory for measuring depression. , 1961, Archives of general psychiatry.

[2]  Á. Pascual-Leone,et al.  Rapid-rate transcranial magnetic stimulation of left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in drug-resistant depression , 1996, The Lancet.

[3]  R. Post,et al.  Opposite effects of high and low frequency rTMS on regional brain activity in depressed patients , 2000, Biological Psychiatry.

[4]  Neurophysiological correlates of depressive symptomatology. , 1980, Neuropsychobiology.

[5]  W Sperling,et al.  Spontaneous, slow and fast magnetoencephalographic activity in patients with schizophrenia , 2002, Schizophrenia Research.

[6]  Matthew L. Ho,et al.  Brain metabolic changes associated with symptom factor improvement in major depressive disorder , 2001, Biological Psychiatry.

[7]  E. Rolls,et al.  The functional neuroanatomy of the human orbitofrontal cortex: evidence from neuroimaging and neuropsychology , 2004, Progress in Neurobiology.

[8]  B. Neundörfer,et al.  Cortical reorganization during recovery from complex regional pain syndrome , 2004, Neurology.

[9]  H. Kober,et al.  Functional and metabolic analysis of cerebral ischemia using magnetoencephalography and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy , 1997, Annals of neurology.

[10]  Karl J. Friston,et al.  Regional cerebral blood flow in depression measured by positron emission tomography: the relationship with clinical dimensions , 1993, Psychological Medicine.

[11]  Sarah H Lisanby,et al.  Therapeutic application of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation: a review , 2001, Clinical Neurophysiology.

[12]  Mark A Frye,et al.  Frequency dependence of antidepressant response to left prefrontal repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) as a function of baseline cerebral glucose metabolism , 1999, Biological Psychiatry.

[13]  Meera Narasimhan,et al.  A randomized clinical trial of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in the treatment of major depression , 2000, Biological Psychiatry.

[14]  L. Schneider,et al.  Quantitative, waking EEG research on depression , 1990, Biological Psychiatry.

[15]  H. Emrich,et al.  High frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in schizophrenic patients , 2000, Neuroreport.

[16]  J Vieth,et al.  The dipole density plot (DDP), a technique to show concentrations of dipoles. , 1993, Physiological measurement.

[17]  J. Kornhuber,et al.  Cortical activity associated with auditory hallucinations , 2004, Neuroreport.

[18]  Christian Maihöfner,et al.  Cortical processing of brush-evoked allodynia , 2003, Neuroreport.

[19]  M. Hamilton.  A RATING SCALE FOR DEPRESSION , 1960, Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry.