Long-Range Temporal Correlations in the amplitude of alpha oscillations predict and reflect strength of intracortical facilitation: Combined TMS and EEG study

• Cortical excitability was studied with TMS–EEG approach.
• Long-range temporal correlation of α oscillations predicted intracortical facilitation.
• Paired-pulse TMS produced changes in neuronal dynamics of α oscillations.

While variability of the motor responses to transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is widely acknowledged, little is known about its central origin. One plausible explanation for such variability may relate to different neuronal states defining the reactivity of the cortex to TMS. In this study intrinsic spatio-temporal neuronal dynamics were estimated with Long-Range Temporal Correlations (LRTC) in order to predict the inter-individual differences in the strength of intra-cortical facilitation (ICF) and short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) produced by paired-pulse TMS (ppTMS) of the left primary motor cortex. LRTC in the alpha frequency range were assessed from multichannel electroencephalography (EEG) obtained at rest before and after the application of and single-pulse TMS (spTMS) and ppTMS protocols. For the EEG session, preceding TMS application, we showed a positive correlation across subjects between the strength of ICF and LRTC in the fronto-central and parietal areas. This in turn attests to the existence of subject-specific neuronal phenotypes defining the reactivity of the brain to ppTMS. In addition, we also showed that ICF was associated with the changes in neuronal dynamics in the EEG session after the application of the stimulation. This result provides a complementary evidence for the recent findings demonstrating that the cortical stimulation with sparse non-regular stimuli might have considerable long-lasting effects on the cortical activity.