Sleep spindle state-dependent motor cortical plasticity induction by EEG-triggered ripple burst TMS
- 1Eberhard Karls University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany
Abstract
Background: Sleep spindles are fundamental for plasticity and memory consolidation. Here we sought to target different spindle states in sleeping healthy participants with real-time EEG-burst repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) at hippocampal ripple frequency, and test the spindle state-dependent induction of corticospinal and sensorimotor cortical plasticity. We hypothesized that the spindle-trough is a particularly critical state for plasticity induction because hippocampal ripples are naturally nested in the spindle-trough, reflecting replay of memory traces and facilitating memory consolidation. Methods: Fourteen participants underwent four experimental nights, in which rTMS was applied either at the spindle-trough, spindle-peak, spindle random phase or during spindle-free epochs. Readouts of plasticity were changes in resting-state EEG (rsEEG) power, motor evoked potential (MEP) amplitude, local mean field amplitude (LMFA, for the N45 and P60 potential components), immediate response slope (IRS) and TMS-related time frequency response (TFR), tested 10 and 30 min after the end of the rTMS interventions upon awakening, and compared to pre-sleep baseline. Results: Spindle-trough rTMS resulted in pre- to post-sleep decreases of rsEEG beta-band power, MEP amplitude, P60-LMFA, IRS and TFR in the alpha-band, and an increase in the N45-LMFA. None of the other spindle state-dependent rTMS interventions resulted in consistent plastic changes. Conclusions: Targeting the spindle-trough with ripple-burst rTMS stands out in consistently leading to long-term depression-like changes across a broad array of corticospinal and sensorimotor cortical excitability readouts. This opens the intriguing opportunity of targeted manipulation of human sleep physiology for improving specific behavioral processes, such as memory consolidation.
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BibTeX
@misc{zhao2026sleep,
title = {{Sleep spindle state-dependent motor cortical plasticity induction by EEG-triggered ripple burst TMS}},
author = {Z. Zhao and Y. Lu and F. Breuer and T. O. Bergmann and U. Ziemann},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.01.748506},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.01.748506v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Sleep spindle state-dependent motor cortical plasticity induction by EEG-triggered ripple burst TMS
AU - Z. Zhao
AU - Y. Lu
AU - F. Breuer
AU - T. O. Bergmann
AU - U. Ziemann
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/01
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.01.748506
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.01.748506v1
AB - Background: Sleep spindles are fundamental for plasticity and memory consolidation. Here we sought to target different spindle states in sleeping healthy participants with real-time EEG-burst repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) at hippocampal ripple frequency, and test the spindle state-dependent induction of corticospinal and sensorimotor cortical plasticity. We hypothesized that the spindle-trough is a particularly critical state for plasticity induction because hippocampal ripples are naturally nested in the spindle-trough, reflecting replay of memory traces and facilitating memory consolidation. Methods: Fourteen participants underwent four experimental nights, in which rTMS was applied either at the spindle-trough, spindle-peak, spindle random phase or during spindle-free epochs. Readouts of plasticity were changes in resting-state EEG (rsEEG) power, motor evoked potential (MEP) amplitude, local mean field amplitude (LMFA, for the N45 and P60 potential components), immediate response slope (IRS) and TMS-related time frequency response (TFR), tested 10 and 30 min after the end of the rTMS interventions upon awakening, and compared to pre-sleep baseline. Results: Spindle-trough rTMS resulted in pre- to post-sleep decreases of rsEEG beta-band power, MEP amplitude, P60-LMFA, IRS and TFR in the alpha-band, and an increase in the N45-LMFA. None of the other spindle state-dependent rTMS interventions resulted in consistent plastic changes. Conclusions: Targeting the spindle-trough with ripple-burst rTMS stands out in consistently leading to long-term depression-like changes across a broad array of corticospinal and sensorimotor cortical excitability readouts. This opens the intriguing opportunity of targeted manipulation of human sleep physiology for improving specific behavioral processes, such as memory consolidation.
ER -