Transcranial magnetic stimulation induced metaplasticity in primary somatosensory cortex

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Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) approaches to promote neural plasticity are rapidly advancing our understanding of human brain function. The somatosensory cortex demonstrates a propensity for TMS-induced plasticity and influences the neural control of muscles. However, little is known about the mechanisms that govern TMS-induced plasticity in human somatosensory cortex. One mechanism that governs plasticity is metaplasticity which acts to limit plasticity by reversing the direction of neural activity to maintain stability within neural circuits. Understanding the processes that underpin metaplasticity is of the utmost importance for predicting TMS-induced plasticity effects and is critical for accurately studying human brain function and/or promoting plasticity for novel therapeutic regimes. To accurately and effectively utilize TMS-induced plasticity protocols the proposed program addresses these questions: 1) What is the magnitude, direction and duration of metaplasticity? 2) What are the neural mechanisms that underpin metaplasticity? 3) Are metaplasticity effects occurring in the cortex and/or spinal circuitry?