Affiliations: Human Cortical Physiology and Stroke Neurorehabilitation Section, NINDS, NIH, MD, USA | Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, USA
Note: [] Corresponding author: Leonardo G. Cohen, M.D., Chief, Human Cortical Physiology and Stroke Neurorehabilitation Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH, Building 10, Room 7D54, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. Tel.: 301 496 9782; Fax: 301 402 7010; E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: Purposeful manipulation of cortical plasticity and excitability within somatosensory regions may have therapeutic potential. Non-invasive brain stimulation (NBS) techniques such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) or transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) have shown promise towards this end with certain NBS protocols augmenting somatosensory processing and others down-regulating it. Here, we review NBS protocols which, when applied to primary somatosensory cortex, facilitate cortical excitability and tactile acuity (i.e., high-frequency repetitive TMS (rTMS), intermittent theta burst stimulation (TBS), paired associative stimulation (PAS) N20-5 to 0, anodal tDCS), and protocols that inhibit the same (i.e., low-frequency rTMS, continuous TBS, PAS N20-20, cathodal tDCS). Other studies have targeted multisensory regions of the brain to modulate somatosensory processing. These studies in full present a wide array of strategies in which NBS can be utilized to influence somatosensory processing in a behaviorally and clinically relevant capacity.
Keywords: Noninvasive brain stimulation, transcranial magnetic stimulation, transcranial direct current stimulation, somatosensory processing
