Effects of immunotherapy on motor cortex excitability in Stiff Person Syndrome

J Neurol. 2010 Feb;257(2):281-5. doi: 10.1007/s00415-009-5331-z. Epub 2009 Oct 10.

Abstract

A number of cortical and spinal excitability variables have been tested in a patient with Stiff Person Syndrome (SPS), before and after immunotherapy with mycophenolate mofetil, intravenous immunoglobulin and corticosteroids, which normalized plasma levels of anti-GAD antibodies and dramatically improved the clinical picture. The overlapping time-course of neurophysiological, clinical and bio-umoral findings suggests that immunotherapy might have changed GABA/Glutamate balance at cortical level, favoring the former, as reflected by normalization of the startle reflex, lengthening of the cortical silent period and clear-cut reduction of intracortical facilitation to paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation. This represents the first report investigating effects of immunotherapy on cortical excitability in SPS.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Electromyography
  • Evoked Potentials, Motor / drug effects
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Immunotherapy*
  • Motor Cortex / drug effects
  • Motor Cortex / physiopathology*
  • Neural Inhibition / drug effects
  • Reflex, Startle / drug effects
  • Stiff-Person Syndrome / drug therapy
  • Stiff-Person Syndrome / physiopathology*
  • Stiff-Person Syndrome / therapy*
  • Time Factors
  • Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
  • Treatment Outcome