Cortical Hypoexcitability in Chronic Smokers? A Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Study

Lang, N.; Hasan, Alkomiet; Sueske, Elke; Paulus, Walter; Nitsche, Michael A.

doi:10.1038/sj.npp.1301645

Cited by 69 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Foregoing investigations of motor-cortex excitability with TMS have shown a reduction in intracortical facilitation, prolonged CSP durations, enhanced short-afferent inhibition (SAI), and reduced aMEPs, indicating cortical hyopexcitability in chronic healthy smokers during nicotine withdrawal (Grundey et al, 2013;Lang et al, 2008). However, the duration of nicotine withdrawal differed between the studies, ranging from one to six (Grundey et al, 2013) hours.…”

Section: Smoking Effect On Cortical Excitabilitymentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Further investigations on chronic smokers during nicotine withdrawal revealed unaffected LTD-like plasticity following cathodal tDCS, which was abolished following nicotine reapplication (Grundey et al, 2012b). Moreover, physiological investigations with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) indicate that chronic smoking tilts the balance between facilitation and inhibition towards cortical hypoexcitability (Grundey et al, 2013;Lang et al, 2008). In summary, evidence points to a significant modulation of both neuroplasticity and cortical excitability through acute and chronic nicotine intake in healthy smokers and nonsmokers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Smoking Restores Impaired LTD-Like Plasticity in Schizophrenia: a Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Study

Strube

Bunse

Nitsche

et al. 2014

Neuropsychopharmacol

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Impaired neuroplastic responses following noninvasive brain stimulation have been reported repeatedly in schizophrenia patients. These findings have been associated with deficits in GABAergic, glutamatergic, and cholinergic neurotransmission. Although various neurophysiological studies have indicated a relationship between nicotine and neuroplasticity in healthy individuals, the present study is the first investigation into the impact of nicotine on LTD-like plasticity in patients with schizophrenia. Cortical excitability and cortical plasticity were explored in 30 schizophrenia patients (17 smoker, 13 nonsmoker) and 45 healthy controls (13 smoker, 32 nonsmoker) by using single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) before and following cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) applied to the left primary motor cortex. Our analysis revealed abolished LTD-like plasticity in nonsmoking schizophrenia patients. However, these plasticity deficits were not present in smoking schizophrenia patients. In healthy controls, significant MEP reductions following cathodal tDCS were observed in nonsmoking individuals, but only trend-level reductions in smokers. In smoking schizophrenia patients, the severity of negative symptoms correlated positively with reduced neuroplasticity, whereas nonsmoking patients displayed the opposite effect. Taken together, the data of our study support the notion of an association between chronic smoking and the restitution of impaired LTD-like plasticity in schizophrenia patients. Although replication and further research are needed to better understand this relationship, our findings indicate that nicotine intake might stabilize the impaired inhibition-facilitation balance in the schizophrenic brain through a complex interaction between cortical plasticity, and GABAergic and cholinergic neurotransmission, and might explain the reduced prevalence of negative symptoms in this population.

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Section: Smoking Effect On Cortical Excitabilitymentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Smoking Restores Impaired LTD-Like Plasticity in Schizophrenia: a Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Study

Strube

Bunse

Nitsche

et al. 2014

Neuropsychopharmacol

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…12, 13 Lang and colleagues 12 investigated chronic smoker excitability with single and paired pulse TMS to the left primary motor cortex as well as short latency afferent inhibition by combining median nerve stimulation and motor cortex TMS. They found that, compared with nonsmoking controls, chronic smokers showed a significantly larger amount of short latency afferent inhibition, which is thought to depend on the activity of cholinergic inhibitory circuits produced by somatosensory inputs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, Lang and colleagues 12 reported corticospinal hypoexcitability in chronic smokers. On the other hand, increased corticospinal excitability in chronic smokers during nicotine withdrawal compared to nonsmokers was recently reported in another study.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhanced corticobulbar excitability in chronic smokers during visual exposure to cigarette smoking cues

Vicario

Komeilipoor

Cesari

et al. 2014

J Psychiatry Neurosci

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“…Further studies are needed to explore the effects in these subject groups. Moreover, apart from other confounding factors like age (Floel et al, 2008), tobacco smoking (Lang et al, 2008b), and genetics (Cheeran et al, 2008), altered dopamine levels in patients should be borne in mind when brain stimulation protocols are applied for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes.…”

Section: General Remarksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dose-Dependent Nonlinear Effect of l-DOPA on Paired Associative Stimulation-Induced Neuroplasticity in Humans

Thirugnanasambandam

Grundey²,

Paulus³

et al. 2011

J. Neurosci.

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Dopamine is one of the major neuromodulators in the CNS, which is involved in learning and memory processes. A nonlinear, inverted U-shaped dose-response curve of its effects on cognition has been observed in animal studies. The basis for this nonlinear effect might be a similar effect of dopamine on neuroplasticity. Whereas it has been shown that dopamine affects paired associative stimulation (PAS)-induced plasticity, which might reflect learning-related processes to a larger degree than other noninvasive plasticity induction protocols in the human motor cortex in principle, its dose-dependency has not been explored previously. We studied the effect of different dosages of the dopamine precursor L-DOPA on motor cortex plasticity induced by facilitatory and inhibitory PAS of the motor cortex in 12 healthy humans. They received 25, 100, or 200 mg of L-DOPA or placebo medication combined with either excitability-enhancing or -diminishing PAS. Cortical excitability level was monitored before and for up to 2 d after plasticity induction by assessment of transcranial magnetic stimulation-induced motor-evoked potentials. Low-dose L-DOPA abolished the aftereffects of PAS and medium-dose L-DOPA prolonged facilitatory plasticity. High-dose L-DOPA reversed the excitability enhancement accomplished by facilitatory PAS to diminution. Thus, the results show a clear nonlinear effect of L-DOPA dosage on associative plasticity, different from that on nonfocal plasticity. This might help to explain dopaminergic effect on cognition and could be relevant for understanding the pathophysiology and treatment of neuropsychiatric diseases accompanied by alterations of the dopaminergic system.

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Cortical Hypoexcitability in Chronic Smokers? A Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Study

Cited by 69 publications

References 36 publications

Smoking Restores Impaired LTD-Like Plasticity in Schizophrenia: a Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Study

Smoking Restores Impaired LTD-Like Plasticity in Schizophrenia: a Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Study

Enhanced corticobulbar excitability in chronic smokers during visual exposure to cigarette smoking cues

Dose-Dependent Nonlinear Effect of l-DOPA on Paired Associative Stimulation-Induced Neuroplasticity in Humans

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