Figure 1.
Study design and experimental procedures. (A) The general study design is depicted in the panel. PD patients were randomized to receive VERUM or SHAM intervention. A week later each subject received the complementary procedure. At each day of an intervention, motor performance was assessed using MDS-UPDRS-III videography, tapping and tremor analysis prior to the intervention (BASELINE), immediately after the intervention (POST0H) and 1 h later (POST1H). (B) During the intervention two stimulation sites (a premotor area and M1) of the hemisphere contralateral to the clinically more affected body side of the patient were stimulated. M1 stimulation was delivered 25 ms before premotor stimulation. Forty blocks of 25 double pulses were applied. Intensity during VERUM stimulation was 95% of the resting motor threshold of the abductor pollicis brevis muscle, 20% during SHAM stimulation.