Affiliations: BDH-Klinik Greifswald, Neurorehabilitation Centre and
Spinal Cord Injury Unit, Neuroscience Department,
Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität, Greifswald, Germany | Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience and Movement
Disorders, Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London, UK
Note: [] Corresponding author: Prof. Dr.med. Thomas Platz, BDH-Klinik
Greifswald, An-Institut der Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität,
Karl-Liebknecht-Ring 26a, D-17491 Greifswald, Germany. E-mail:
t.platz@bdh-klinik-greifswald.de
Abstract: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a
non-invasive method of stimulating the brain that changes excitability at the
site of stimulation as well as at distant anatomically connected sites. Since
the effects can outlast the period of stimulation for minutes or hours and are
thought to be depend, at least in part, on changes in the efficiency of
synaptic connections in the cortex, the method has generated much interest as a
potential therapeutic intervention in a wide range of neurological and
psychiatric conditions. A symposium on brain stimulation and brain recovery was
held in Greifswald (Germany) in 2010 to exchange of state-of-the-art knowledge
about rTMS effects from animal experiments to clinical trials in conditions
such as stroke, Parkinson disease, and depression. There was enormous interest
in the effects of rTMS and signs of therapeutic success in mainly small
clinical trials. However, it was also clear that some of our models of the
effects of rTMS, such as upregulation or downregulation of specific brain areas
may need further development if they are to account for all the observations
that have been made so far. The results of the symposium are made available by
lab reviews of members of the symposium's faculty. This editorial provides an
overview.
