Effects of age on motor excitability measures from children and adolescents with Tourette syndrome

Pépés, Sophia E., Draper, Amelia, Jackson, Georgina M. and Jackson, Stephen R. (2016) Effects of age on motor excitability measures from children and adolescents with Tourette syndrome. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 19 . pp. 78-86. ISSN 1878-9307

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Abstract

Tourette syndrome (TS) is a neurological disorder characterised by vocal and motor tics. It is associated with cortical–striatal–thalamic–cortical circuit [CSTC] dysfunction and hyper-excitability of cortical motor regions. TS follows a developmental time course, in which tics often become increasingly more controlled during adolescence. Importantly, however, a substantial minority of patients continue to have debilitating tics into adulthood. This indicates that there may be important differences between adult TS patients and children and adolescents with the disorder. We use TMS to examine cortical motor excitability in a sample of children, adolescents and young adults with TS. We demonstrate that, in contrast to studies of adult patients, resting motor threshold and the variability of MEP responses are increased in children with TS, while the gain of motor excitability in reduced. Importantly, we demonstrate that these differences normalise with age over adolescence. We conclude that these effects are likely due to a developmental delay in the maturation of key brain networks in TS, consistent with recent brain imaging studies of structural and functional brain connectivity. Importantly, these findings suggest that the alterations in brain network structure and function associated with TS may be quite different in children and adult patients with the condition.

Item Type: Article
RIS ID: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/787356
Keywords: Tourette syndrome; Motor excitability; Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS); Motor threshold; Children and adolescents
Schools/Departments: University of Nottingham, UK > Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > School of Medicine > Division of Psychiatry and Applied Psychology
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2016.02.005
Depositing User: Eprints, Support
Date Deposited: 01 Mar 2016 14:46
Last Modified: 04 May 2020 17:48
URI: https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/32069

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