TMS follow-up study in patients with vascular cognitive impairment-no dementia

详细信息    查看全文

• 作者：Rita Bella^a ; ^{rbella@unict.it} ; Raffaele Ferri^b ; ^{rferri@oasi.en.it} ; Giuseppe Lanza^a ; ^{giuseppelanza2003@yahoo.it} ; Mariagiovanna Cantone^b ; ^{mariagiovanna21@inwind.it} ; Manuela Pennisi^c ; ^{manuelapennisi@libero.it} ; Valentina Puglisi^a ; ^{valentinapuglisi@hotmail.com} ; Luisa Vinciguerra^a ; ^{luisavinciguerra@hotmail.it} ; Concetto Spampinato^d ; ^{cspampin@gmail.com} ; Tommaso Mazza^e ; ^{t.mazza@css-mendel.it} ; Giulia Malaguarnera^a ; ^{giulia.malaguarnera@live.it} ; Giovanni Pennisi^a ; ^{pennigi@unict.it}
• 关键词：Vascular cognitive impairment-no dementia ; Transcranial magnetic stimulation ; Motor threshold ; Executive dysfunction
• 刊名：Neuroscience Letters
• 出版年：2013
• 出版时间：8 February, 2013
• 年：2013
• 卷：534
• 期：Complete
• 页码：155-159
• 全文大小：260 K

文摘

Vascular cognitive impairment-no dementia (VCI-ND) is a condition at risk for future dementia and should be the target of preventive strategies. Recently, an enhanced intracortical facilitation observed in VCI-ND patients was proposed as a candidate neurophysiological marker of the disease process. The aim of this study was to monitor the excitability of the motor cortex and the functioning of excitatory/inhibitory intracortical circuits in patients with VCI-ND after a follow-up period of approximately 2 years, in order to pick out early markers of disease progression into dementia. Nine patients and 9 age-matched controls were re-evaluated for single and paired pulse TMS measures of cortical excitability, as well as for neuropsycological and functional assessment. Compared to the first evaluation, patients showed a decrease of the median resting motor threshold (rMT). Patients exhibited a significant worsening at Stroop Color-Word Test Interference scores without substantial functional impairment. Our study represents the first evidence of a decrease of rMT in VCI-ND patients during the progression of cognitive impairment. This result might be considered an index of motor cortex plasticity and interpreted as a compensatory mechanism for the loss of motor cortex neurons.