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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Hum. Neurosci.
Sec. Brain Imaging and Stimulation
Volume 19 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2025.1524485

20 Hz Temporal interference stimulation can more effectively enhance motor evoked potentials in the Primary Motor Cortex

Provisionally accepted
Yajie Wang Yajie Wang 1Chunyue Zhu Chunyue Zhu 1Junhong Zhou Junhong Zhou 2Tianli Fu Tianli Fu 1Jinlong Yan Jinlong Yan 1JIAOJIAO LÜ JIAOJIAO LÜ 1LINGYAN HUANG LINGYAN HUANG 1*YU LIU YU LIU 1
  • 1 Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China
  • 2 Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research, Harvard Medical School, Roslindale, Massachusetts, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This study investigates the effects of temporal interference stimulation (TI) with different envelope frequencies on the cortical excitability of the primary motor cortex (M1). In this randomized, double-blind, crossover study, 26 participants completed four separate study visits.During these visits, they received 20 min of three types of TI (10, 20, and 40 Hz envelope frequency) and sham stimulation applied over M1 in a randomized order. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was employed to assess motor-evoked potentials (MEP) and resting motor threshold (RMT) over the left M1 (ipsilateral area) and right M1 (contralateral area) before, immediately after, and 30 and 60 min after stimulation. The blinding efficacy was excellent, and no severe side effects were reported. TI stimulation with varying envelope frequencies affected MEP differently; 20 Hz TI stimulation enhanced the MEP of the ipsilateral M1 with after-effects appearing at 60 min, and no significant differences were observed between the 10 Hz or 20 Hz TI stimulation with sham groups. However, no significant changes in RMT were observed under any of the TI conditions. In conclusion, 20 Hz TI stimulation increased the cortical excitability of the ipsilateral M1, highlighting that frequency is an important factor in the modulatory effect of TI.

    Keywords: Temporal Interference Stimulation, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, primary motor cortex, Frequency-dependent, Motor evoked Potentials

    Received: 12 Nov 2024; Accepted: 04 Feb 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Zhu, Zhou, Fu, Yan, LÜ, HUANG and LIU. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: LINGYAN HUANG, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.