Online LI-rTMS during a visual learning task: Differential impacts on visual circuit and behavioral plasticity in adult ephrin-A2A5^–/– mice

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) induces plasticity in normal and abnormal neural circuitries, an effect that may be influenced by intrinsic brain activity during treatment. Here, we study potential synergistic effects between low-intensity rTMS (LI-rTMS) and concurrent neural activity in promoting circuit reorganization and enhancing visual behavior. We used ephrin-A2A5^–/– mice, which are known to possess visuotopic mapping errors that are ameliorated by LI-rTMS, and assessed the impact of stimulation when mice were engaged in a visual learning task. A detachable coil was affixed to each mouse, and animals underwent 2 wk of 10-min daily training in a two-choice visual discrimination task with concurrent LI-rTMS or sham stimulation. No-task controls (>LI-rTMS/sham) were placed in the task arena without visual task training. At the end of the experiment, visuomotor tracking behavior was assessed, and corticotectal and geniculocortical pathway organization was mapped by injections of fluorescent tracers into the primary visual cortex. Consistent with previous results, LI-rTMS alone improved geniculocortical and corticotectal topography, but combining LI-rTMS with the visual learning task prevented beneficial corticotectal reorganization and had no additional effect on geniculocortical topography or visuomotor tracking performance. Unexpectedly, there was a significant increase in the total number of trials completed by task > LI-rTMS mice in the visual learning task. Comparison with wild-type mice revealed that ephrin-A2A5^–/– mice had reduced accuracy and response rates, suggesting a goal-directed behavioral deficit, which was improved by LI-rTMS. Our results suggest that concurrent brain activity during behavior interacts with LI-rTMS, altering behavior and different visual circuits in an abnormal system.