Brain Stimulation as a Therapeutic Tool in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: Current Status and Interaction With Mechanisms of Altered Cortical Excitability.

ABSTRACT: In the last 20 years, several modalities of neuromodulation, mainly based on non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques, have been tested as a non-pharmacological therapeutic approach to slow disease progression in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In both sporadic and familial ALS cases, neurophysiological studies point to motor cortical hyperexcitability as a possible priming factor in neurodegeneration, likely related to dysfunction of both excitatory and inhibitory mechanisms. A trans-synaptic anterograde mechanism of excitotoxicity is thus postulated, causing upper and lower motor neuron degeneration. Specifically, motor neuron hyperexcitability and hyperactivity are attributed to intrinsic cell abnormalities related to altered ion homeostasis and to impaired glutamate and ga

SUBMITTER: Ranieri F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7892772 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature