Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neurodegenerative disease caused by inflammatory processes in the central nervous system (CNS). Decades of research led to discovery of several disease-modifying therapeutics strategies with moderate success. Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is currently the most commonly used experimental model for MS and for studying various therapeutic approaches. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a non-invasive neurostimulation technique with multiple beneficial effects on healthy as well as CNS with pathology. However, the molecular and cellular mechanisms of rTMS on acute EAE are scarce. Our study demonstrated beneficial effects of theta-burst stimulation (TBS), an experimental paradigm of rTMS, on disease course of acute EAE. TBS treatment attenuated reactive gliosis, restored myelin sheet and down-regulated expression of vimentin in EAE rats. These effects were reflected through reduced clinical parameters, shorter duration of illness and days spent in paralysis. Based on our research, rTMS deserves further considerations for its neuroprotective effect on EAE, and is an excellent candidate for further research and points that it could be used for more than for simple symptomatic therapy.

多发性硬化症 (MS) 是一种由中枢神经系统 (CNS) 中的炎症过程引起的慢性神经退行性疾病。数十年的研究导致发现了几种缓解疾病的治疗策略，并取得了一定的成功。实验性自身免疫性脑脊髓炎 (EAE) 是目前最常用于 MS 和研究各种治疗方法的实验模型。重复经颅磁刺激 (rTMS) 是一种非侵入性神经刺激技术，对健康和具有病理的中枢神经系统具有多种有益影响。然而，rTMS 对急性 EAE 的分子和细胞机制很少。我们的研究证明了 theta-burst 刺激 (TBS)（一种 rTMS 的实验范式）对急性 EAE 病程的有益影响。TBS 治疗减轻反应性神经胶质增生，在 EAE 大鼠中恢复髓磷脂表和下调波形蛋白的表达。这些影响反映在临床参数减少、疾病持续时间缩短和瘫痪天数上。根据我们的研究，rTMS 对 EAE 的神经保护作用值得进一步考虑，并且是进一步研究的绝佳候选者，并指出它不仅可以用于简单的对症治疗。