AI-Powered Research

- Age 18-55 years
- Clinically definite MS (based on Poser criteria, 1983)
- Need to meet the safety criteria to undergo an MRI examination
- Need to meet the safety criteria to undergo transcranial magnetic stimulation

Exclusion Criteria

For all participants:
- History of drug abuse
- Psychiatric disorders
- Claustrophobia
- Visual impairment
- Foreign non MR compatible metal objects in the body
- Foreign metal objects in or close to the head
- (family)history of epilepsy, seizures
- Use of tricyclic anti-depressants, neuroleptic agents, fampridine and other drugs that lower the seizure threshold
- Cardiac rhythmic disorders;Additionally for healthy controls:
- Neurological disorders;Additionally for patients:
- Other neurological disorders besides MS
- Relapse or steroid treatment in the month prior to the investigation
- High number of cortical lesions (according to Calabrese et al., Journal of Neurology 2008)

Study & Design

Study Type: Interventional

Study Design: Not specified

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
<p>More insight will be given into the potential role for rTMS in cognitive<br /><br>therapy in MS patients. This will increase our knowledge on this topic and will<br /><br>hopefully give us insights on how to start future interventional longitudinal<br /><br>cognitive rehabilitation studies.<br /><br><br /><br>The primary study parameters of this study are:<br /><br>1) Functional connectivity (resting state and task-specific fMRI): How do<br /><br>task-related (N-back task) and resting state functional connectivity patterns,<br /><br>as measured by functional MRI, change in response to high frequency rTMS in MS?<br /><br>2) Working memory task performance (task-specific fMRI): How does the<br /><br>performance on the N-back task change in response to a single rTMS application? </p><br>

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
<p>As a secondary objective, we are interested in functional changes at the<br /><br>metabolic level of rTMS. To learn more about this, we will perform<br /><br>MR-spectroscopy. Also, we would like to establish that plasticity takes place<br /><br>in the motor cortex when our rTMS protocol is applied to this brain area<br /><br>(positive control).<br /><br>The secondary study parameters of this study are:<br /><br>3) Are there changes in brain metabolites, specifically in Glutamate/Glutamine<br /><br>levels (as detected by MR spectroscopy) in the prefrontal cortex after<br /><br>stimulation with rTMS?<br /><br>4) Does rTMS of the motor cortex (M1) of MS patients induce synaptic<br /><br>plasticity?</p><br>