Short-interval intracortical inhibition in Parkinson's disease using anterior-posterior directed currents

Reduced short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) is reported in Parkinson’s disease (PD) and is considered to reflect abnormal GABAergic inhibitory system of the primary motor cortex in PD. We have recently shown, however, that SICI using anterior-posterior directed currents in the brain was normal in focal dystonia even though that using posterior-anterior currents was abnormal, indicating that the GABAergic system of the primary motor cortex is largely normal in dystonia. Here, we studied SICI in PD to clarify whether the GABAergic system is completely impaired in PD. We used paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation to study SICI at interstimulus intervals of 3 and 4 ms with anterior-posterior or posterior-anterior directed currents in eight PD patients and ten healthy volunteers. The amount of SICI with posterior-anterior directed currents was reduced in PD patients compared with healthy volunteers; in contrast, SICI studied with anterior-posterior directed currents was normal in PD patients. These observations may be due to the difference in I-wave composition generated by the two directed currents and/or the difference in responsible inhibitory interneurons for the inhibition between the two current directions. We suggest that some or a part of inhibitory interneurons are not involved in PD. This discrepancy between SICI using posterior-anterior and anterior-posterior directed currents experiments may provide additional information about the circuits of the motor cortex.