Effects of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on Neurons in Behaving Primates

描述(申请人提供)：经颅磁刺激(TMS)是一种非侵入性的刺激人脑的方法。它对我们了解正常的大脑功能做出了很大贡献，并在精神和神经疾病的治疗方面显示出希望。然而，TMS对神经元活动的确切作用仍不清楚。我们将在记录非人类灵长类动物的单个神经元时应用单脉冲TMS。我们的TMS方法将与人类使用的方法相对应，并且可以很容易地被任何灵长类神经生理学实验室采用。一组研究人员将设计定制的TMS线圈，将刺激的焦点引导到大脑皮层的精确位置，创新的电子设备可以在TMS脉冲后1毫秒内进行神经元记录，并控制视觉-眼球运动任务，以允许行为和神经元状态的系统变化。我们将记录刺激部位和远距离但单通道连接部位的单个神经元和场电位。我们工作的最终结果将是发现TMS如何在单个神经元和简单电路的水平上影响大脑。其意义将包括用于人类基础研究和治疗应用的改进的、生理引导的TMS方案。 公共卫生相关性：使用头部附近的磁脉冲对人类大脑进行非侵入性刺激(经颅磁刺激或TMS)是研究视觉、认知和运动的宝贵工具，但TMS到底如何影响大脑活动仍是一个悬而未决的问题。这项拟议的工作将通过记录TMS期间表现良好的灵长类动物大脑中的单个神经元来回答这个问题。该项目是一个技术挑战，但其可行性已得到证实，其固有风险将由一个范围广泛的专家团队管理，其最终结果将是革命性的：TMS生理机制的数据将改善对人脑的基础研究，并帮助临床医生实现TMS作为有效治疗干预措施的承诺。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive method for stimulating the human brain. It has contributed greatly to our understanding of normal brain function and shows promise in therapies for psychiatric and neurological disorders. Exactly what TMS does to neuronal activity, however, remains unknown. We will apply single pulses of TMS while recording from single neurons in behaving non-human primates. Our TMS methods will correspond to those used in humans and will be easily adoptable by any primate neurophysiology laboratory. A team of researchers will design custom TMS coils to direct the focus of stimulation to precise locations of cerebral cortex, innovative electronics to permit neuronal recordings within 1 ms after TMS pulses, and controlled visual- oculomotor tasks to allow systematic variation of behavioral and thus neuronal state. We will record from single neurons and field potentials at both the site of stimulation and at distant but monosynaptically connected sites. The end result of our work will be to discover how TMS influences the brain at the level of single neurons and simple circuits. Implications will include improved, physiologically-guided TMS protocols for human basic research studies and therapeutic applications. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Non-invasive stimulation of the human brain using magnetic pulses near the head ("transcranial magnetic stimulation" or TMS) is a valuable tool for studying vision, cognition, and movement, but exactly how TMS affects brain activity is an open question. The proposed work will answer this question by recording from single neurons in the brains of behaving primates during TMS. The project is a technical challenge but its feasibility has been confirmed, its inherent risks will be managed by a team of wide-ranging experts, and its end result will be transformative: data on the physiological mechanisms of TMS will improve basic research on the human brain and help clinicians fulfill the promise of TMS as an effective therapeutic intervention.