Updates on Neurostimulation: From Mechanistic Principles to Clinical Applications

Dear Colleagues,

Neurostimulation techniques offer a therapeutic alternative to pharmacological treatments in neurological disorders, including those disorders that are resistant to current treatments. These techniques include non-invasive brain stimulation, such as transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS); invasive brain stimulation, such as deep brain stimulation (DBS); or peripheral stimulation, such as vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) and spinal cord stimulation (SCS). Neurostimulation can also serve as a diagnostic tool, such as in-depth electrical stimulation mapping (DESM) for drug-resistant epilepsy patients. Neuromodulation research has experienced significant growth in the last 20 years, and better treatments and new clinical applications are expected in the following years. Optimizing neuromodulation to favor clinical responses is an ongoing work.

However, the physiological mechanisms underlying neurostimulation are not yet fully understood. Measuring neurophysiological responses to stimulation (magnetoencephalography (MEG), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), or electroencephalography (EEG), electromyography (EMG), among others) can help us to better understand the neurological mechanism and main factors contributing to better clinical outcomes. Computational physics has also permitted quantifying and determining the interaction of physical quantity (i.e., induced electric field) on the target neural elements as the basis of the neuromodulation process, while optimizing the simulation parameters.

This Special Issue welcomes advances in understanding the mechanistic foundations of neurostimulation, proposals of novel or enhanced methodologies, and clinical applications through in vivo, in vitro, ex vivo, in silico and simulation studies. Original research articles and systematic reviews/meta-analyses are welcomed.

Dr. Jose Gomez Tames
Dr. Mariano Fernández-Corazza
Guest Editors

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• brain stimulation
• non-invasive brain stimulation
• deep brain stimulation
• neuroimaging
• computational modelling
• therapy