Direct Assessment of Short-Latency Intracortical Inhibition via Immediate TMS-Evoked Potentials

Short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) is the most widely used neurophysiological index of GABAergic inhibition in the human cortex. However, it is an indirect measure, inferring synaptic inhibition from suppression of peripherally recorded motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) elicited by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). In the standard protocol, a subthreshold conditioning pulse suppresses the MEP evoked by a suprathreshold test pulse delivered 1–5 ms later. Interpretation is further complicated by temporal overlap with short-interval intracortical facilitation (SICF), reflecting excitatory interactions at interstimulus intervals of ∼1.5 and 2.7 ms.

To overcome these limitations, we recorded immediate TMS-evoked EEG potentials (iTEPs; 1–10 ms post-stimulus) as a more direct measure of motor cortical activity in 16 healthy volunteers (20–35 years; 7 male). The conventional SICI protocol suppressed only later components of the iTEP, likely corresponding to late corticospinal volleys previously identified in epidural spinal recordings after suprathreshold TMS, while the earliest iTEP component was unaffected. Importantly, later iTEPs were suppressed to a similar extent whether conditioning–test intervals coincided with SICF peaks or troughs, and the magnitude of iTEP suppression correlated with concurrently recorded paired-pulse MEP suppression. SICI also reduced an early TEP component (N15; 10–20 ms), but paired-pulse N15 suppression showed a different dependence on stimulus intensity and did not correlate with MEP suppression.

These findings demonstrate that SICI measured via MEPs does not reflect a global index of cortical GABAergic motor cortical inhibition but instead reflects inhibition within specific cortical circuits that can be investigated directly with iTEPs.