TY - JOUR
T1 - Enhanced motor cortex facilitation in patients with vascular cognitive impairment-no dementia
AU - Bella, Rita
AU - Ferri, Raffaele
AU - Pennisi, Manuela
AU - Cantone, Mariagiovanna
AU - Lanza, Giuseppe
AU - Malaguarnera, Giulia
AU - Spampinato, Concetto
AU - Giordano, Daniela
AU - Alagona, Giovanna
AU - Pennisi, Giovanni
PY - 2011/10/10
Y1 - 2011/10/10
N2 - Data on Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) derived measures of cortical excitability and intracortical circuits in age-related white matter changes are scarce. We aimed to assess early changes of motor cortex excitability in nondemented elderly patients with subcortical ischemic vascular disease (SVD). Ten SVD elderly and ten age-matched controls underwent paired-pulse TMS for the analysis of intracortical inhibition (ICI) and facilitation (ICF). All subjects performed neuropsychological assessment and brain magnetic resonance imaging. SVD patients showed abnormal executive control function. No statistically significant differences were found for resting motor threshold, cortical silent period between SVD patients and controls or between the two hemispheres, in patients. A significant enhancement of mean ICF was observed in SVD patients. This study provides the first evidence of functional changes in intracortical excitatory neuronal circuits in patients with SVD and clinical features of vascular cognitive impairment-no dementia. Further studies are required to evaluate whether the observed change of ICF might predict cognitive and/or motor impairment in a population at risk for subcortical vascular dementia.
AB - Data on Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) derived measures of cortical excitability and intracortical circuits in age-related white matter changes are scarce. We aimed to assess early changes of motor cortex excitability in nondemented elderly patients with subcortical ischemic vascular disease (SVD). Ten SVD elderly and ten age-matched controls underwent paired-pulse TMS for the analysis of intracortical inhibition (ICI) and facilitation (ICF). All subjects performed neuropsychological assessment and brain magnetic resonance imaging. SVD patients showed abnormal executive control function. No statistically significant differences were found for resting motor threshold, cortical silent period between SVD patients and controls or between the two hemispheres, in patients. A significant enhancement of mean ICF was observed in SVD patients. This study provides the first evidence of functional changes in intracortical excitatory neuronal circuits in patients with SVD and clinical features of vascular cognitive impairment-no dementia. Further studies are required to evaluate whether the observed change of ICF might predict cognitive and/or motor impairment in a population at risk for subcortical vascular dementia.
KW - Aging brain
KW - Executive dysfunction
KW - Neurophysiology
KW - Subcortical ischemic vascular disease
KW - Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=80053222748&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.neulet.2011.08.022
DO - 10.1016/j.neulet.2011.08.022
M3 - Article
C2 - 21875648
AN - SCOPUS:80053222748
VL - 503
SP - 171
EP - 175
JO - Neuroscience Letters
JF - Neuroscience Letters
SN - 0304-3940
IS - 3
ER -