A modeling / TMS-EEG approach to effective connectivity

描述(申请人提供)：经颅磁刺激(IMS)，一种非侵入性的脑刺激形式，正在开发为一种研究和临床工具，用于治疗一些神经精神疾病。最近，研究已经开始使用IMS来探索大脑区域之间的有效连接--如何直接干扰给定大脑区域的活动影响其他区域的活动。这类研究为开发与皮质-皮质相互作用缺陷相关的疾病(如精神分裂症和阿尔茨海默病)开发新的诊断和最终治疗方法带来了巨大的希望。充分利用这一潜力需要了解IMS如何激活皮质靶点，以及这种激活如何传播到遥远的、解剖学上相连的部位。这项拟议的研究将集中在两种新的、互补的策略上，这两种策略应该会扩大我们对IMS诱导的活动如何通过大脑皮层回路传播的理解。第一种方法是基于通过大规模的计算机建模来开发TMS对皮层回路的作用的综合分析。第二种方法使用HD-EEG来实验测量皮层对TMS的反应的传播，以及它们如何随着觉醒和睡眠的变化而变化。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Transcranial magnetic stimulation (IMS), a noninvasive form of brain stimulation, is being developed as an investigative and clinical tool for a number of neuropsychiatric disorders. Recently, studies have begun using IMS to probe the effective connectivity among brain areas- how directly perturbing the activity of a given brain area affects the activity of other areas. Such studies hold great promise for developing novel diagnostic and ultimately therapeutic approaches to disorders associated with defective cortico-cortical interactions, such as schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease. Fully exploiting this potential requires understanding how IMS activates a cortical target and how that activation propagates to distant, anatomically connected sites. The proposed research will focus on two novel, complementary strategies that should expand our understanding of how IMS induced activity propagates through cortical circuits. The first approach is based on developing a comprehensive analysis of TMS action on cortical circuits through large-scale computer modeling. The second approach uses hd-EEG to experimentally measure propagation of cortical responses to TMS and how they vary as a function of wakefulness and sleep.