TY - JOUR
T1 - The effect of long-term high frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on working memory in schizophrenia and healthy controls-A randomized placebo-controlled, double-blind fMRI study
AU - Guse, Birgit
AU - Falkai, Peter
AU - Gruber, Oliver
AU - Whalley, Heather
AU - Gibson, Lydia
AU - Hasan, Alkomiet
AU - Obst, Katrin
AU - Dechent, Peter
AU - McIntosh, Andrew
AU - Suchan, Boris
AU - Wobrock, Thomas
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the University Medical Center and the MR-Research in Neurology and Psychiatry , Georg-August-University Goettingen and by the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Ruhr-University Bochum , further by the Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, UK . We specially thank I. Pfahlert, U. Engelhardt and M. Keil for their individual contribution to this study.
Funding Information:
This work is a subproject of a multicenter trial funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG: grant FA 241/10-1 ).
PY - 2013/1/15
Y1 - 2013/1/15
N2 - In schizophrenia patients negative symptoms and cognitive impairment often persist despite treatment with second generation antipsychotics leading to reduced quality of life and psychosocial functioning. One core cognitive deficit is impaired working memory (WM) suggesting malfunctioning of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. High frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has been used to transiently facilitate or consolidate neuronal processes. Pilot studies using rTMS have demonstrated improvement of psychopathology in other psychiatric disorders, but a systematic investigation of working memory effects outlasting the stimulation procedure has not been performed so far. The aim of our study was to explore the effect of a 3-week high frequency active or sham 10 Hz rTMS on cognition, specifically on working memory, in schizophrenia patients (n=25) in addition to antipsychotic therapy and in healthy controls (n=22). We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to compare activation patterns during verbal WM (letter 2-back task) before and after 3-weeks treatment with rTMS. Additionally, other cognitive tasks were conducted. 10 Hz rTMS was applied over the left posterior middle frontal gyrus (EEG electrode location F3) with an intensity of 110% of the individual resting motor threshold (RMT) over a total of 15 sessions. Participants recruited the common fronto- parietal and subcortical WM network. Multiple regression analyses revealed no significant activation differences over time in any contrast or sample. According to the ANOVAs for repeated measures performance remained without alterations in all groups. This is the first fMRI study that has systematically investigated this topic within a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind design, contrasting the effects in schizophrenia patients and healthy controls.
AB - In schizophrenia patients negative symptoms and cognitive impairment often persist despite treatment with second generation antipsychotics leading to reduced quality of life and psychosocial functioning. One core cognitive deficit is impaired working memory (WM) suggesting malfunctioning of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. High frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has been used to transiently facilitate or consolidate neuronal processes. Pilot studies using rTMS have demonstrated improvement of psychopathology in other psychiatric disorders, but a systematic investigation of working memory effects outlasting the stimulation procedure has not been performed so far. The aim of our study was to explore the effect of a 3-week high frequency active or sham 10 Hz rTMS on cognition, specifically on working memory, in schizophrenia patients (n=25) in addition to antipsychotic therapy and in healthy controls (n=22). We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to compare activation patterns during verbal WM (letter 2-back task) before and after 3-weeks treatment with rTMS. Additionally, other cognitive tasks were conducted. 10 Hz rTMS was applied over the left posterior middle frontal gyrus (EEG electrode location F3) with an intensity of 110% of the individual resting motor threshold (RMT) over a total of 15 sessions. Participants recruited the common fronto- parietal and subcortical WM network. Multiple regression analyses revealed no significant activation differences over time in any contrast or sample. According to the ANOVAs for repeated measures performance remained without alterations in all groups. This is the first fMRI study that has systematically investigated this topic within a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind design, contrasting the effects in schizophrenia patients and healthy controls.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84867584673&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.bbr.2012.09.034
DO - 10.1016/j.bbr.2012.09.034
M3 - Journal articles
C2 - 23022750
AN - SCOPUS:84867584673
SN - 0166-4328
VL - 237
SP - 300
EP - 307
JO - Behavioural Brain Research
JF - Behavioural Brain Research
IS - 1
ER -
