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Breakdown in central motor control can be attenuated by motor practice and neuro-modulation of the primary motor cortex

Version 2 2024-06-04, 00:55
Version 1 2015-06-02, 15:50
journal contribution
posted on 2024-06-04, 00:55 authored by Wei-Peng Teo, JP Rodrigues, FL Mastaglia, GW Thickbroom
The performance of a repetitive index finger flexion–extension task at maximal voluntary rate (MVR) begins to decline just a few seconds into the task and we have previously postulated that this breakdown has a central origin. To test this hypothesis, we have combined two objectives; to determine whether motor practice can lessen the performance deterioration in an MVR task, and whether further gains can be achieved with a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) protocol that increases corticomotor excitability (CME). Eleven right-handed subjects participated in a randomized crossover study design that consisted of a 15-min interventional TMS at I-wave periodicity (ITMS) and single-pulsed Sham intervention prior to six 10-s practice sets of a repetitive finger flexion–extension task at MVR. Motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) were recorded from the first dorsal interosseous muscle. The starting movement rate, and the percentage decline in rate by the end of the MVR were quantitated. Training of the MVR task improved the sustainability of the task by reducing the decline in movement rate. CME increased steadily after each training bout, and this increase was maintained up to 20 min after the last bout. ITMS further increased CME, and was associated with an increase in both the starting rate of the MVR task and its sustainability, when compared to Sham. The results implicate central motor processes in the performance and sustainability of the MVR task, and indicate that MVR kinematics can improve with short-term training and with non-invasive neuro-modulation.

History

Journal

Neuroscience

Volume

220

Pagination

11-18

Location

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

ISSN

0306-4522

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal, C Journal article

Copyright notice

2012, Elsevier

Publisher

Elsevier