Differentiation of motor cortical representation of hand muscles by navigated mapping of optimal TMS current directions in healthy subjects

The precision of navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to map the human primary motor cortex may be effected the direction of TMS-induced current in the brain as determined by the orientation of the stimulation coil. In this study, we investigated the effect of current directionality on motor output mapping using navigated brain stimulation (NBS). Our goal was to determine the optimal coil orientation (and, thus, induced brain current) to activate hand musculature representations relative to each subject’s unique neuroanatomical landmarks. We studied motor output maps for the first dorsal interosseous (FDI), abductor pollicis brevis (APB), and abductor digiti minimi (ADM) muscles in 10 normal volunteers. Monopolar current pulses were delivered through a figure-of-eight shaped TMS coil and motor evoked potentials (MEPs) were recorded using electromyography (EMG). At each targeted brain region, we systematically rotated the TMS coil to determine the direction of induced current in the brain for induction of the largest MEPs. These optimal current directions were expressed as an angle relative to each subject’s central sulcus. Consistency of the optimal current direction was assessed by repeating the entire mapping procedure on two different occasions across subjects. We demonstrate that systematic optimization of current direction as guided by MRI based neuronavigation improves the resolution of cortical output motor mapping with TMS.