Virtual Lesion-induced Rapid Reorganization in the Working Memory Network in Multiple Sclerosis

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) patients at the early stage of the disease typically show normal working memory (WM) performance. However, studies with fMRI revealed increased BOLD activity and altered connectivity in nodes of the WM network (e.g. BA9, BA46) in MS patients [1, 2]. It remains unclear if the observed changes represent compensatory mechanisms. Methods: To clarify this, we used continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) to create a virtual lesion in the right BA9 prior to behavioural experiments. Early stage MS patients (CIS or RRMS, EDSS ≤ 2.0, T2-lesion volume < 2mL; n=5) and healthy controls (…