Unlike the other articles in this series on rTMS, this paper will not include clinical research or magnetic stimulation experiments. Instead, we will focus on an animal model of epilepsy called kindling and a procedure that we have recently developed to inhibit kindled seizures called quenching. Both procedures involve direct intracerebral electrical stimulation of the brain. We demonstrate that low-frequency stimulation, which does not disrupt ongoing behavior, can have profound and long-lasting effects on both seizure development and fully kindled seizures.At this point, we do not know how well these models relate, either mechanistically or phenomenologically, to the effects of repeated transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS); however, we believe that at the very least, some of the principles emerging from studying these phenomena may be relevant to our thinking about rTMS and its potential treatment utility. Specifically, we discuss the possible relationship between quenching and rTMS with regards to parameters of induction, possible common mechanisms, and potential treatment implications.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.