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Updated: Aug 6, 2026

Modeling the Functional Network for Spatial Navigation in the Human Brain
Published on: October 13, 2023
Associations between neuronavigated rTMS-mediated functional connectome plasticity and neurotransmitter receptors in
Weina Yao1,2,3,4, Tingyu Lv1,2,3,4, Wenao Zheng3
1Department of Neurology Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University Wuhan China.
Introduction:
Cognitive improvement is mediated by repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in Alzheimer's disease (AD), and connectome gradient analysis has important potential to explore more comprehensive information for treatment efficacy. However, it remains unclear whether and how rTMS mediates connectome gradient reconstruction and its spatial neurotransmitter associations in subjects on the AD spectrum.
Methods:
A total of 84 subjects on the AD spectrum underwent 4 weeks of conventional neuronavigated rTMS targeting the left angular gyrus (20 Hz, 20 sessions over 4 weeks, 20 minutes per session), including 60 subjects with true stimulation and 24 with sham stimulation. This study identified functional connectome gradients and investigated their neuroplasticity between pre- and post-rTMS intervention. A support vector regression model was subsequently used to explore the cognitive prediction value of baseline measures. Finally, connectome‒neurotransmitter association analysis was used to investigate neurotransmitter profiles related to rTMS therapeutic efficacy.
Results:
These findings showed that rTMS treatment mainly mediated the decreased gradient values in the somatomotor regions and such baseline values of these regions showed preliminary predictive value for memory improvement after treatment (R 2: 0.40-0.63, mean absolute error: 1.54-3.19, root mean square error: 1.98-3.94, p = 0.0002). Moreover, connectome-neurotransmitter association analysis suggested spatial associations between these gradient changes and normative metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5) and 5-hydroxytryptamine receptor 2A (5HT2a) receptor distributions.
Discussion:
rTMS mediates plasticity in high-order metric levels in the brain and is linked to the spatial distributions of specific neurotransmitter receptors in subjects on the AD spectrum.
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