Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation causes significant changes of chemical substances in the brain of rabbits with experimental intracerebral hemorrhage

More and more studies have reported the usefulness of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in the treatment of stroke patients. This article is to explore if rTMS can cause changes of such chemical substances as N-acetylaspartate (NAA), choline (Cho) and creatine (Cr) in the surrounding area of experimental intracerebral hematoma of rabbits. A total of 36 rabbits were randomly divided into 3 groups: a control group (group A), a sham rTMS group (group B) and an rTMS group (group C). The experimental intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) was induced by intracerebral injection of selfbody blood of the animals in groups B and C, while those of the group A serving as controls were injected with normal saline. The rabbits of groups B and C were treated with sham and real rTMS, respectively, but those of group A were not. The contents of chemical substances including NAA, Cho and Cr in the perihematomal brain tissues were measured by using ¹H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H-MRS) 12 hours, 72 hours, 1 week and 2 weeks after the experimental ICH was induced. The results show that the contents of NAA, Cr and NAA/Cr ratio were decreased significantly, but Cho, Cho/Cr increased significantly in groups B and C (P < 0.01) as compared against those in group A. A comparison between the groups B and C revealed that the contents of NAA, Cr, NAA/Cr were higher, but Cho and Cho/Cr were significantly lower in group C than those in group B (P < 0.01). It is concluded that rTMS could result in changes of the chemical substance contents in perihematomal brain tissues, which leads to neuroprotective effects in the brain.