Deep and Localized Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Rat Using Conventional Round Coil

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) shows significant values in both brain research and therapeutic applications in the treatment of various psychiatric and neurological disorders. Animal studies of TMS plays an important role in understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying TMS induced effects in the brain. This work investigated TMS in rat brain by employing conventional round coil with varied coil positions. Three dimensional distributions of induced electric field in realistic rat model were calculated by 3-D impedance method. Simulations results indicated that the conventional round coil can be applied to rat TMS with improved focality while also keeping high stimulation intensities in deep brain regions.