Noninvasive modulation of human corticostriatal activity

Corticostriatal activity is an appealing target for nonpharmacological treatments of brain disorders. In humans, corticostriatal activity may be modulated with noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS). However, a NIBS protocol with a sound neuroimaging measure demonstrating a change in corticostriatal activity is currently lacking. Here, we combine transcranial static magnetic field stimulation (tSMS) with resting-state functional MRI (fMRI). We first present and validate the ISAAC analysis, a well-principled framework that disambiguates functional connectivity between regions from local activity within regions. All measures of the framework suggested that the region along the medial cortex displaying greater functional connectivity with the striatum is the supplementary motor area (SMA), where we applied tSMS. We then use a data-driven version of the framework to show that tSMS of the SMA modulates the local activity in the SMA proper, in the adjacent senso-rimotor cortex, and in the motor striatum. We finally use a model-driven version of the framework to clarify that the tSMS-induced modulation of striatal activity can be primarily explained by a change in the shared activity between the modulated motor cortical areas and the motor striatum. These results suggest that corticostriatal activity can be targeted, monitored, and modulated noninvasively in humans.