Transcranial magnetic stimulation in sleep fragmentation: a model to better understand sleep disorders.

Objective: To investigate practice-dependent plasticity and cortical inhibition/excitability in good sleepers after a night of sleep fragmentation (SF), by means of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).

Methods: In basal condition (BC), after a full night of spontaneous sleep, and in fragmented condition (FC), after a fragmented night of sleep, motor evoked potential (MEP) amplitude, motor threshold (MT), silent period (SP), and intracortical inhibition were assessed. In both conditions subjects performed, also, a bimanual motor task: MEPs were recorded before and after exercise, and after rest.