Lasting depression in corticomotor excitability associated with local scalp cooling

• Effects of scalp cooling were investigated with transcranial magnetic stimulation.
• Reductions in scalp temperatures were induced by a cold wrap applied for 10 min.
• Scalp cooling was associated with an immediate and lasting MEP depression.
• A secondary experiment with the scalp wrapping only showed no effects.
• MEP depression possibly reflects central inhibition mediated by cold afferents.

In this study, we investigated the effect of local scalp cooling on corticomotor excitability with transcranial magnetic simulation (TMS). Participants (healthy male adults, n = 12) were first assessed with TMS to derive baseline measure of excitability from motor evoked potentials (MEPs) using the right first dorsal interosseous as the target muscle. Then, local cooling was induced on the right hemi-scalp (upper frontal region ∼15 cm2) by means of a cold wrap. The cooling was maintained for 10–15 min to get a decrease of at least 10 °C from baseline temperature. In the post-cooling period, both scalp temperature and MEPs were reassessed at specific time intervals (i.e., T0, T10, T20 and T30 min). Scalp surface temperatures dropped on average by 12.5 °C from baseline at T0 (p < 0.001) with partial recovery at T10 (p < 0.05) and full recovery at T20. Parallel analysis of post-cooling variations in MEP amplitude revealed significant reductions relative to baseline at T0, T10 and T20. No concurrent change in MEP latency was observed. A secondary control experiment was performed in a subset of participants (n = 5) to account for the mild discomfort associated with the wrapping procedure without the cooling agent. Results showed no effect on any of the dependent variables (temperature, MEP amplitude and latency). To our knowledge, this report provides the first neurophysiological evidence linking changes in scalp temperature with lasting changes in corticomotor excitability.