AUTHOR=Kim Euisun , Meinhold Waiman , Shinohara Minoru , Ueda Jun 

TITLE=Statistical Inter-stimulus Interval Window Estimation for Transient Neuromodulation via Paired Mechanical and Brain Stimulation

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neurorobotics

VOLUME=Volume 14 - 2020

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurorobotics/articles/10.3389/fnbot.2020.00001

DOI=10.3389/fnbot.2020.00001

ISSN=1662-5218

ABSTRACT=3 For achieving motor recovery in individuals with sensorimotor deficits, augmented activation of
4 the appropriate sensorimotor system and facilitated induction of neural plasticity are essential.
5 An emerging procedure that combines peripheral nerve stimulation and its associative stimulation
6 with central brain stimulation is known to enhance the excitability of the motor cortex. In order to
7 effectively apply this paired stimulation technique, timing between central and peripheral stimuli
8 must be individually adjusted. There is a small range of effective timings between two stimuli, or
9 the inter-stimulus interval window (ISI-W). Properties of ISI-W from neuromodulation in response
10 to mechanical stimulation (Mstim) of muscles have been understudied because of the absence of
11 a versatile and reliable mechanical stimulator. This paper adopted a combination of transcranial
12 magnetic stimulation (TMS) and Mstim by using a high-precision robotic mechanical stimulator.
13 A pneumatically operated robotic tendon tapping device was applied. A low-friction linear cylinder
14 achieved high stimulation precision in time and low electromagnetic artifacts in physiological
15 measurements. This paper describes a procedure to effectively estimate an individual ISI-W from
16 the transiently enhanced motor evoked potential (MEP) with a reduced number of paired Mstim
17 and sub-threshold TMS trials by applying statistical sampling and regression technique. This paper
18 applied a total of four parametric and nonparametric statistical regression methods for ISI-W
19 estimation. The developed procedure helps to reduce time for individually adjusting effective ISI,
20 reducing physical burden on the subject.