Is rTMS an Effective Therapeutic Strategy that Can Be Used to Treat Parkinson's Disease?

Oscar      Arias-Carrion; Sergio      Machado; Flavia      Paes; Bruna      Velasques; Silmar      Teixeira; Lizbeth      Cardenas-Morales; Roberto      Piedade; Pedro      Ribeiro; Antonio      E. Nardi

Abstract

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a non-invasive procedure whereby a pulsed magnetic field stimulates electrical activity in the brain. Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative process characterized by numerous motor and nonmotor clinical manifestations for which effective, mechanism-based treatments remain elusive. Consequently, more advanced non-invasive therapeutic methods are required. A possible method of rehabilitation that may be effective and potentially viable for use in clinical practice is rTMS. Here, we focus on the basic foundation of rTMS, the main findings of rTMS from animal models, the effects of rTMS on sensorimotor integration in patients with PD, and the experimental advances of rTMS that may become a viable clinical application to treat the disease.

Keywords: rTMS, Parkinsons disease, cellular and molecular mechanisms, Neurorehabilitation, Sensorimotor integration, Deep brain stimulation, HPLC, Prefrontal cortex, L-DOPA, iTBS