Trial reportNeuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology2024
Intermittent theta-burst stimulation to the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex may increase potentiated startle in healthy individuals.
Trial report in Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The medial prefrontal cortex as a proposed regulatory structure in the relationship between anxiety and perceived social support: a review.BMC psychology · 2025Pooled it
- The Philadelphia Theta Burst Project: A novel fMRI-guided electric field modeling dataset with reliability metrics.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2026Article
- Spatially resolved EEG reveals theta-band network modulation following iTBS in aging and mild cognitive impairment.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Article
- Mapping EEG Metrics to Human Affective and Cognitive Models: An Interdisciplinary Scoping Review from a Cognitive Neuroscience Perspective.Biomimetics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Using causal network mapping to clarify pre-clinical brain stimulation results.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2025Article
- Exploring the Influence of Left Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex Intermittent Theta-Burst Stimulation on Working Memory Load: An EEG Study in Healthy Participants.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2025Article
- Role of Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex During Motor Preparation on Anticipatory Postural Adjustments.Brain topography · 2025Article
- Effect of intermittent theta burst stimulation on upper limb function in stroke patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) treatment protocols targeting the right dlPFC have been effective in reducing anxiety symptoms comorbid with depression. However, the mechanism behind these effects is unclear. Further, it is unclear whether these results generalize to non-depressed individuals. We conducted a series of studies aimed at understanding the link between anxiety potentiated startle and the right dlPFC, following a previous study suggesting that continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) to the right dlPFC can make people more anxious. Based on these results we hypothesized that intermittent TBS (iTBS), which is thought to have opposing effects on plasticity, may reduce anxiety when targeted at the same right dlPFC region. In this double-blinded, cross-over design, 28 healthy subjects underwent 12 study visits over a 4-week period. During each of their 2 stimulation weeks, they received four 600 pulse iTBS sessions (2/day), with a post-stimulation testing session occurring 24 h following the final iTBS session. One week they received active stimulation, one week they received sham. Stimulation weeks were separated by a 1-week washout period and the order of active/sham delivery was counterbalanced across subjects. During the testing session, we induced anxiety using the threat of unpredictable shock and measured anxiety potentiated startle. Contrary to our initial hypothesis, subjects showed increased startle reactivity following active compared to sham stimulation. These results replicate work from our two previous trials suggesting that TMS to the right dlPFC increases anxiety potentiated startle, independent of both the pattern of stimulation and the timing of the post stimulation measure. Although these results confirm a mechanistic link between right dlPFC excitability and startle, capitalizing upon this link for the benefit of patients will require future exploration.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.