CLINICAL TRIAL article
Front. Neurosci.
Sec. Brain Imaging Methods
Volume 19 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnins.2025.1645903
Personalized Temporal Interference Stimulation Targeting Striatum Reduces Functional Stability and Dynamic Connectivity Variability in the Sensorimotor Network
Provisionally accepted
- Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
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Background: Functional stability within brain networks, particularly the sensorimotor network (SMN), is crucial for coherent motor control. Temporal Interference (TI) stimulation offers a non-invasive method to modulate deep brain structures like the striatum, yet its impact on dynamic functional stability across motor networks remains largely unexplored. Methods: Twenty-six healthy male participants separately underwent TI stimulation and Sham stimulation in a crossover, double-blind, randomized controlled trial with counterbalanced protocol. Resting-state Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (rs-fMRI) was acquired before and during the stimulation. 20-minute TI stimulation (10 mA, Δf=20 Hz) was applied to the right striatum using personalized electrode montages optimized. Dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) was computed using a sliding-window approach. Voxel-wise functional stability across the whole brain was quantified by Kendall's concordance coefficient of voxel-to-voxel dFC. Seed-based dFC variability in the right striatum was measured as the standard deviation of dFC across windows. Results: (1) Functional stability: TI stimulation significantly decreased functional stability in bilateral SMA regions (predominantly SMA proper, with parts of pre-SMA) compared to Sham and baseline conditions (P < 0.01). (2) Dynamic functional connectivity: TI stimulation reduced dFC variability between the right striatum and left SMA region (predominantly SMA proper, with parts of pre-SMA) compared to baseline (P < 0.01). (3) Safety: No adverse cognitive effects or side effects were observed, with good blinding effectiveness maintained throughout the study. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that TI stimulation targeting the striatum effectively modulates sensorimotor network stability and dFC variability within the cortico-striatal pathway, highlighting its potential as a non-invasive neuromodulation approach for motor network disorders.
Keywords: temporal interference stimulation1, personalized brain stimulation keyword2, functional stability3, dynamic functional connectivity4, functional magnetic resonance imaging5
Received: 23 Jun 2025; Accepted: 11 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Tang, Qin, Hu, Gao, Jian and Zhu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Zhiqiang Zhu, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
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