Study of the Correlation Between Cortical Excitability and Cytoarchitectonics of Prefrontal Cortex in Healthy Adult Participants, Using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Coupled to EEG and High-field MRI

Launched by INSTITUT NATIONAL DE LA SANTÉ ET DE LA RECHERCHE MÉDICALE, FRANCE · Jul 16, 2025

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This clinical trial is studying a part of the brain called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), which plays a role in thinking and emotions. Researchers want to understand how different areas within this part of the brain connect and respond to a treatment called repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). rTMS is a non-invasive therapy that uses magnetic pulses to stimulate brain activity and is sometimes used to help people with depression. By using advanced brain imaging (MRI) and brain activity recording (EEG) techniques on healthy volunteers, the study aims to find precise brain targets for rTMS. This could help improve how the treatment works for people with tough-to-treat depression in the future.

To take part, you need to be a healthy adult between 18 and 35 years old, right-handed, and able to follow some safety rules like avoiding alcohol and certain drugs before the study. Participants will have one MRI scan and one session where brain activity is measured while magnetic pulses are gently applied to different parts of the DLPFC. These sessions are safe and non-invasive but require staying still for short periods. The information collected will help researchers develop better ways to target brain areas during treatment, aiming to improve outcomes for future patients with depression.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • People aged 18 to 35
• • People affiliated with a social security scheme or beneficiary of such a scheme
• • People who have signed the informed consent
• • Right-handed people
• • People with a body mass index between 18 and 26
• • People able to abstain from alcohol for 24 hours prior to the experiment
• • People able to remain perfectly still for 15 minutes straight, and able to have reduced mobility for 3 hours
• • People able to of not using narcotics (marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy, MDMA, ketamine, etc.) during the 15 days preceeding the experiment.
• • Conducting a pregnancy test before inclusion for women of childbearing age and when the research is conducted over a long period, at a frequency adapted to the gaze of the research acts
• • Effective contraception for women of childbearing potential
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • Pregnant, parturient, or breastfeeding
• • Protected adults
• • Minors
• • People staying in a healthcare or social institution
• • People in an emergency situation
• • People deprived of their liberty
• • People with the usual contraindications to MRI
• • Ferromagnetic surgical clips, ocular implants, metallic foreign bodies intraocularly or in the nervous system, implants or metallic objects susceptible to concentrate the radio frequency field, cochlear implants, brain stimulator or cardiac pacemaker, presence of a craniotomy scar, agitation
• • Claustrophobia
• • Large, black tattoo close to the orofacial area
• • People not wishing to be informed of abnormalities discovered at the MRI
• • People with a history of epilepsy or suffering from epilepsy
• • Individuals whose parents, children, siblings, or parents have a history of epilepsy
• • People with known neurological and/or psychiatric disorders with past and/or current medical treatment, or drug addiction
• • Staff with a hierarchical link to the investigators