A modeling / TMS-EEG approach to effective connectivity

描述（由申请人提供）：经颅磁刺激（IMS）是一种无创的脑刺激形式，正在作为一种研究和临床工具开发用于许多神经精神疾病。最近，研究已经开始使用IMS来探测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。这些研究为开发新的诊断和最终治疗与皮质-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）的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连接部位。拟议的研究将集中在两种新的互补策略上，这将扩大我们对IMS诱导的活动如何通过皮质回路传播的理解。第一种方法是通过大规模计算机建模，对经颅磁刺激对皮层回路的作用进行全面分析。第二种方法是使用hd-EEG实验测量大脑皮层对经颅磁刺激反应的传播，以及它们在清醒和睡眠状态下的变化。

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.