Mechanism of action of transcranial magnetic stimulation technique

With its non-invasive, non-painful, non-destructive, safe and effective features, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has become increasingly popular among clinical care providers and patients, and its applications have expanded from the treatment of depression to common diseases such as psychiatry, neurorehabilitation and pediatrics, and in recent years there have been significant breakthroughs in addictive disorders. Although scholars from all walks of life in the world have also published a large number of reports using the techniques they specialize in, the mechanism of action is not yet very clear. TMS stimulation mode is divided into single stimulation, paired stimulation and repetitive stimulation mode, single stimulation mode is mainly used for neural detection, paired stimulation is mostly used to study the cortical inhibition and vulnerability, repetitive stimulation mode is used for clinical treatment, including conventional repetitive stimulation mode (rTMS) and burst stimulation mode (TBS), where rTMS is divided into high frequency (>1Hz) and low frequency (≤ 1 Hz), and TBS is divided into intermittent TBS (iTBS, with intermittent, excitatory effect) and continuous TBS (cTBS, without intermittent, inhibitory effect) according to the presence or absence of stimulation intervals. The main mechanisms of TMS are as follows: 1. Modulation of neuroexcitability High-frequency rTMS or iTBS increases neuroexcitability, while low-frequency stimulation or cTBS has the opposite effect. TMS, when applied to the human body, not only stimulates local nerves, but also triggers a series of remote effects on the neural network in the stimulated area, resulting in long-duration biological effects. 2. 2.Modulation of neurotransmitter and receptor effects Stimulation of the cerebral cortex by TMS can regulate dopamine (DA), 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HT), glutamate, etc., and modulate the sensitivity of receptors. 3, the effect on gene expression TMS can regulate the cortical more extensive c-fos gene, transcription factor CREB phosphorylation, mRNA and other expression. 4, regulation of cerebral blood flow, metabolism and endocrine function TMS through the influence of the pituitary-adrenal axis function, so that the brain emergency capacity increased. 5, promote the production of brain-derived neurotrophic factors Some studies have found that high-frequency rTMS and iTBS can promote the production of brain-derived neurotrophic factors, which play an important role in the repair of neural injury.