Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) Modulates Lipid Metabolism in Aging Adults

Abstract

Hyperlipidemia, one of the cardiovascular (CV) risk factors, is associated with an increase in the risk for dementia. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) was applied over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) to modulate serum lipid levels in older adults. Participants received 10 sessions of rTMS or sham stimulation intervention within 2 weeks. The serum lipid and thyroid hormone-related endocrine levels were assessed before and after the treatment. We found that rTMS significantly decreased serum lipid levels, including the total cholesterol (CHO) and triglyceride (TG); meanwhile, it also increased the thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) as well as thyroxine (T4) levels. This suggests that rTMS modulated the serum lipid metabolism by altering activity in the hypothalamo-pituitary-thyroid (HPT) axis. The trial was registered on the website of Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (http://www.chictr.org.cn).

Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Improving Cognitive Function in Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Systematic Review

“…rTMS is a promising, non-invasive treatment for the improvement of cognitive function in elderly patients with cognitive impairment. Recently, some studies (Ren et al, 2017 ; Cui et al, 2019 ) have also combined TMS with neuroimaging and genetic approaches to further understand the potential mechanisms underlying the rTMS effects on cognition. The default mode network (DMN), serum lipid levels (such as cholesterol and triglyceride levels) (Weng et al, 2018 ; Wang et al, 2020a ; Yang et al, 2020 ), and oxidative stress (such as superoxide dismutase) (Zhu et al, 2019 ) have been reported to play critical roles in modulating cognitive function in age-related neurodegenerative diseases.…”

“…Cui et al ( 2019 ) showed that rTMS-induced hypoconnectivity within DMN was associated with clinical cognitive improvements in patients with amnestic MCI. High-frequency rTMS reportedly decreased serum lipid levels (including the total cholesterol and triglyceride) in the healthy older adults (Ren et al, 2017 ). A review presents that the therapeutic effect of TMS could be mediated at least partly by its effects on antioxidant enzymes (Medina-Fernández et al, 2018 ).…”

Clinical subtypes that predict conversion to psychosis: A canonical correlation analysis study from the ShangHai At Risk for Psychosis program

“…A SHARP team led originally by Dr Larry Seidman before his untimely passing in 2017, and who was also the Principal Investigator (PI) of the Harvard site of the NAPLS-2 project, implemented methods similar to those used in NAPLS-2 for the identification of CHR individuals in Mainland China since 2010 (Li et al, 2018; Zhang et al, 2018b, 2014). Studies were launched at only one site, the SMHC, the largest outpatient mental health clinic in China (Ren et al, 2017; Zhang et al, 2014). A key element of the SHARP sample is that all participants are psychotropically naïve when they enter the study and are assessed clinically.…”

“…As importantly, there is also no history of substance abuse or dependence in this sample, because substance abuse is one of the exclusion criteria for CHR recruitment. See Zhang et al (2012, 2014, 2015; Ren et al, 2017) for further details regarding SHARP methodology.…”

When to initiate antipsychotic treatment for psychotic symptoms: At the premorbid phase or first episode of psychosis?

“…Individuals had not received treatment of any kind for a psychiatric disorder, and they had no history of substance abuse or dependence, which were exclusion criteria of the SHARP program. Zhang et al (2014, 2015), Ren et al (2017) and Zheng et al (2012) provided further details regarding the SHARP methodology. Furthermore, most SHARP participants began to receive AP medication after their first outpatient visit; only one participant underwent psychotherapy, on four separate occasions.…”