Accelerated Intermittent Theta-Burst Stimulation Ameliorate Major Depressive Disorder by Regulating CAMKII Pathway

Major depressive disorder(MDD) is a complex and heterogeneous mental disorder. Repeated transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), as a non-invasive neuroregulatory technique, has shown a promising function in the treatment of depression. Theta-burst transcranial magnetic stimulation (TBS) model significantly shortened the duration of physical therapy treatment, and iTBS under the accelerated model (The latter is referred to as aiTBS)showed promising therapeutic effect. However, whether aiTBS has a better and faster curative effect in the first untreated or recurrent unmedicated MDD patients and the mechanism of its alleviation of depressive symptoms remains unclarified. This project intends to verify changes in CAMKII levels, CAMKII molecules and GABA receptors in brain-derived exosomes in normal controls and patients who received sham, aiTBS and high-frequency (10Hz) stimulation respectively. Neuroimaging and TMS-EEG were used to pinpoint the target of stimulation and to record the changes of brain waves before and after treatment in real time. To clarify the neurobiological mechanism of aiTBS rapidly improving depression, and to provide a new strong evidence for clinical transcranial magnetic stimulation for accurate treatment of MDD patients.