Plasticity induction and Parkinson disease

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K07521
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 52020:Neurology-related
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Hamada Masashi 東京大学, 医学部附属病院, 講師 (40708054)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 経頭蓋磁気刺激 / パーキンソン病 / 可塑性

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In order to understand mechanism of treatment effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in Parkinson disease, we performed series of experiments in which plasticity induction indeed affected motor learning in healthy volunteers. Furthermore, we found that reducing stimulus intensity of TBS protocol reversed non-responder to responder. These finding indicated that clinical effects of rTMS in Parkinson disease may be produced by plasticity modulation and that stimulus intensity may be very important to effectively induce plasticity in human cortex.

Free Research Field

神経内科

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

パーキンソン病において薬物治療のみならず非薬物療法の開発は喫緊の課題である。本研究ではその一つになりえる磁気刺激による可塑性について、効果発現機序の神経基盤の一部を解明でき、今後の応用が十分期待できる点で学術的・社会的意義があると考えた。