RESUMO
We studied the morphology and the cortical representation of the median nerve (MN), 10 weeks after a transection immediately followed by treatment with tubulization using a polycaprolactone (PCL) conduit with or without bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) transplant. In order to characterize the cutaneous representation of MN inputs in primary somatosensory cortex (S1), electrophysiological cortical mapping of the somatosensory representation of the forepaw and adjacent body parts was performed after acute lesion of all brachial plexus nerves, except for the MN. This was performed in ten adult male Wistar rats randomly assigned in three groups: MN Intact (n = 4), PCL-Only (n = 3), and PCL+MSC (n = 3). Ten weeks before mapping procedures in animals from PCL-Only and PCL+MSC groups, animal were subjected to MN transection with removal of a 4-mm-long segment, immediately followed by suturing a PCL conduit to the nerve stumps with (PCL+MSC group) or without (PCL-Only group) injection of MSC into the conduit. After mapping the representation of the MN in S1, animals had a segment of the regenerated nerve processed for light and transmission electron microscopy. For histomorphometric analysis of the nerve segment, sample size was increased to five animals per experimental group. The PCL+MSC group presented a higher number of myelinated fibers and a larger cortical representation of MN inputs in S1 (3,383 ± 390 fibers; 2.3 mm(2), respectively) than the PCL-Only group (2,226 ± 575 fibers; 1.6 mm(2)). In conclusion, MSC-based therapy associated with PCL conduits can improve MN regeneration. This treatment seems to rescue the nerve representation in S1, thus minimizing the stabilization of new representations of adjacent body parts in regions previously responsive to the MN.
RESUMO
La estimulación magnética transcraneal (EMT) es una herramienta no invasiva de estimulación cerebral que se basa en la capacidad de un campo magnético generado para penetrar el cráneo y las meninges y originar una corriente eléctrica secundaria en el tejido cerebral que produce despolarización neuronal. Esta técnica se puede aplicar en un solo estímulo, en pares de estímulos separados por intervalos o en trenes de estímulos repetidos a varias frecuencias. Si bien el mecanismo de acción exacto se desconoce, la EMT repetitiva puede modular la excitabilidad de la corteza cerebral, por lo cual se ha vislumbrado como una posible herramienta diagnóstica y terapéutica en el área de neuropsiquiatría. El objetivo de este artículo es revisar el conocimiento actual de la EMT en cuanto a principios básicos, mecanismos fisiopatológicos y utilidad en la práctica clínica de la neuropsiquiatría.
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive method for stimulation of brain that is based on the ability of a generated magnetic field to penetrate skull and brain meninges, inducing an electric current in the brain tissues that produces neuronal depolarization. TMS can be applied as single pulse of stimulation, pairs of stimuli separated by variable intervals to the same or different brain areas, or as trains of repetitive stimuli at various frequencies. Its mechanism of action is currently unknown. Repetitive TMS can modify the excitability of the cerebral cortex, and has been postulated as a diagnostic and therapeutic tool in the area of neuropsychiatry. The aim of this article is to review the knowledge of the TMS as regards its basic principles, pathophysiological mechanism, and its usefulness in clinical practice.
Assuntos
Humanos , Feminino , Adulto , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Conhecimento , Estimulação Magnética Transcraniana , Neuropsiquiatria , Pulso Arterial , Terapêutica , Córtex Cerebral , Impactos da Poluição na Saúde , Campos Magnéticos , MétodosRESUMO
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive method for stimulation of brain that is based on the ability of a generated magnetic field to penetrate skull and brain meninges, inducing an electric current in the brain tissues that produces neuronal depolarization. TMS can be applied as single pulse of stimulation, pairs of stimuli separated by variable intervals to the same or different brain areas, or as trains of repetitive stimuli at various frequencies. Its mechanism of action is currently unknown. Repetitive TMS can modify the excitability of the cerebral cortex, and has been postulated as a diagnostic and therapeutic tool in the area of neuropsychiatry. The aim of this article is to review the knowledge of the TMS as regards its basic principles, pathophysiological mechanism, and its usefulness in clinical practice.
RESUMO
We studied primary-somatosensory cortical plasticity due to selective stimulation of the sensory periphery by two procedures of active exploration in adult rats. Subjects, left with only three adjacent whiskers, were trained in a roughness discrimination task or maintained in a tactile enriched environment. Either training or enrichment produced 3-fold increases in the barrel cortex areas of behaviorally-engaged whisker representations, in their zones of overlap. While the overall areas of representation expanded dramatically, the domains of exclusive principal whisker responses were virtually identical in enriched vs normal rats and were significantly smaller than either group in roughness discrimination-trained rats. When animals were trained or exposed to enriched environments with the three whiskers arrayed in an are or row, very equivalent overlaps in representations were recorded across their greatly-enlarged whisker representation zones. This equivalence in distortion in these behavioral preparations is in contradistinction to the normal rat, where overlap is strongly biased only along rows, probably reflecting the establishment of different relations with the neighboring cortical columns. Overall, plasticity phenomena are argued to be consistent with the predictions of competitive Hebbian network plasticity.