Evaluation of the Effect of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Craving in Methamphetamine Use Disorder

The limbic circuit and executive control circuit are two important frontal-striatal neural circuits associated with drug dependence. Previous studies showed increased functional activity within the limbic neural circuit (e.g. medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and ventral striatum) in the presence of a salient cue and decreased activity in the executive control circuit (e.g. dorsal prefrontal cortex and dorsal striatum). TMS was used to reverse the activities of these two circuits, by using continuous TBS and intermittent TBS, respectively. In this study, vmPFC cTBS was conducted to modulating the limbic circuit, while left dlPFC iTBS was conducted to modulating the executive control circuit. Combined treatment of vmPFC cTBS and left dlPFC iTBS was conducted to modulating two circuits simultaneously. Focused on evaluating the efficacy of the interventions and investigate the mechanisms, neuropsychological tests, biochemical tests, and electroencephalography will be used to investigate the neurobiological mechanism of the methamphetamine use disorder, craving, and relapse. The study will be very helpful to develop evidence-based rTMS protocols for methamphetamine-dependent patients in clinical practice and decrease harm for both the patients and their families.