Preconditioning with Cathodal High-Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Sensitizes the Primary Motor Cortex to Subsequent Intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation

<div>Experimental design. Single-pulse TMS was delivered to the left M1. The coil was first placed on the motor hotspot that produced an optimum response defined by electromyography recordings of abductor pollicis brevis (APB) muscle. Twenty MEPs induced at a TMS intensity of 130% resting motor threshold (RMT) were averaged as the baseline cortical excitability (a). MEPs were recorded in the pretest block. Subjects received twenty consecutive single pulses over the target site of the left M1 with an interval of 5 s. Preconditioning with cathodal HD-tDCS or sham prior to iTBS was applied. One week later, the interventions were switched (b). The after-effects were measured as the amplitude of MEPs at 5, 10, 15, and 30 min after the intervention. AMT: active motor threshold.</div>

Neural Plasticity

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Figure 1

Figure 1: Preconditioning with Cathodal High-Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Sensitizes the Primary Motor Cortex to Subsequent Intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation 

Figure 1 | Preconditioning with Cathodal High-Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Sensitizes the Primary Motor Cortex to Subsequent Intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation 