Human Theta Burst Stimulation Combined with Subsequent Electroacupuncture Increases Corticospinal Excitability

Jiali Li; Meng Ren; Wenjing Wang; Shutian Xu; Sicong Zhang; Yuanli Li; Chunlei Shan

doi:10.1155/2020/8824530

Human Theta Burst Stimulation Combined with Subsequent Electroacupuncture Increases Corticospinal Excitability

Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2020 Dec 23:2020:8824530. doi: 10.1155/2020/8824530. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Jiali Li^{1

2}, Meng Ren², Wenjing Wang¹, Shutian Xu^{2

3}, Sicong Zhang¹, Yuanli Li^{1

2

3}, Chunlei Shan^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Center of Rehabilitation, Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China.
² School of Rehabilitation Science, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China.
³ Engineering Research Center of Traditional Chinese Medicine Intelligent Rehabilitation, Ministry of Education, Shanghai, China.

Abstract

Objective: Intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) is a widely used noninvasive brain stimulation for the facilitation of corticospinal excitability (CSE). Previous studies have shown that acupuncture applied to acupoints associated with motor function in healthy people can reduce the amplitude of the motor-evoked potentials (MEPs), which reflects the inhibition of CSE. In our work, we wanted to test whether the combination of iTBS and electroacupuncture (EA) would have different effects on CSE in humans.

Methods: A single-blind sham-controlled crossover design study was conducted on 20 healthy subjects. Subjects received 20 minutes' sham or real EA stimulation immediately after sham or real iTBS. MEPs, short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI), intracortical facilitation (ICF), cortical silent period (CSP), and central motor conduction time (CMCT) were recorded before each trial, and immediately, 20 minutes, and 40 minutes after the end of stimulation.

Results: In the sham iTBS group, EA produced a reduction in MEPs amplitude, lasting approximately 40 minutes, while in the real iTBS group, EA significantly increased MEPs amplitude beyond 40 minutes after the end of stimulation. In sham EA group, the recorded MEPs amplitude showed no significant trend over time compared to baseline. Among all experiments, there were no significant changes in SICI, ICF, CSP, CMCT, etc.

Conclusion: These data indicate that immediate application of EA after iTBS significantly increased corticospinal excitability. This trial was registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (registration no. ChiCTR1900025348).