Electromagnetism for Brain Disorders

July 29, 2008

The Human Brain Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has helped to improve a variety of different brain disorders including schizophrenia, migraines and major depression. The general idea behind this technology is using an electromagnetic pulse that passes through a person’s skull and this then generates an electric current inside their brain. By changing the frequency of the pulse, researchers can either increase or decrease activity selectively in many brain areas.

The main problem with current TMS is that it can penetrate only around 1-2 cm into the brain. So it is basically limited to activating and deactivating brain regions in close proximity to the skull (the neocortex). Researchers have created a new deep transcranial magnetic stimulation device that is able to reach further into the brain. This device can inhibit or excite more areas that were previously out of reach. It has the ability to reach almost any brain area. Many brain disorders often have areas that are either overactive or underactive when compared to a normal brain. So this technology may eventually allow scientists to normalize acitivty in disturbed brain regions by non-invasive stimulation. TMS can be performed on a person while they are wide awake and fully conscious. So the ease of use for this device is extremely good.

Researchers are testing the device to treat people who are overweight or obese. To do this they are stimulating the hypothalamus which is a deeper brain structure. The hypothalamus is involved in the body’s metabolic processes. So stimulating this area may allow a person to lose weight. This would be a non-invasive way of shedding the pounds without actually having to do any work.

Researchers are using deep tms to reduce the auditory hallucinations that accompany schizophrenia. About 50 to 70 percent of schizophrenic patients can hear voices that aren’t real. These voices can be very frightening and distressing as they can make disparaging comments to the person. Researchers have discovered that an area of the brain named the left temporoparietal cortex is activated when auditory hallucinations are occuring. Deep TMS will be able to decrease activity in this specific brain areas and this may lead to a reduction in auditory hallucinations.

Researchers are also using this device to treat many of the symptoms of depression. They are directly targeting brain areas that are involved in a person’s ability to experience pleasure. Electrical stimulation of the nucleus accumbens has been shown to be rewarding. However until recently, stimulating this area required patients to undergo brain surgery to get an implant. Now, scientists are able non-invasively stimulate this area of the brain without the need for surgery. Depressed patients often experience anhedonia (the inability to experience pleasure). This is due to altered functioning of the reward circuits of the brain. So stimulating specific brain areas associated with reward using deep tms may be able to alleviate chronic anhedonia and apathy in depressed patients.

The researchers have already done studies on upwards of 100 depressed patients and have found the deep tms can relieve anhedonia in over 50% of them. So this treatment may enable depressed patients to get more enjoyment from life than they would normally. In a study performed on bipolar depressed patients, researchers found that 80% of the patients responded to the treatment, while 50% of them experienced a significant improvement in their symptoms. The scientists have even tested the deep TMS on normal healthy volunteers and have claimed that it improved their mood. So this treatment may even allow a healthy person to get more enjoyment from life.

This new deep TMS technology shows a lot of promise for many different brain disorders. It may allow a person to shed the pounds, experience more pleasure in life and increase overall mood. If this technology even does half what the company says it can, it will definitely be a revolution in the treatment of brain disorders.

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About the Author:
Michael Webb blogs about transcranial direct current stimulation, Deep transcranial magnetic stimulation and deep brain stimulation.

Written by admin · Filed Under Biology