PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Maria Concetta Pellicciari
AU  - Domenica Veniero
AU  - Cristina Marzano
AU  - Fabio Moroni
AU  - Cornelia Pirulli
AU  - Giuseppe Curcio
AU  - Michele Ferrara
AU  - Carlo Miniussi
AU  - Paolo Maria Rossini
AU  - Luigi De Gennaro
TI  - Heritability of Intracortical Inhibition and Facilitation
AID  - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2112-09.2009
DP  - 2009 Jul 15
TA  - The Journal of Neuroscience
PG  - 8897--8900
VI  - 29
IP  - 28
4099  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/29/28/8897.short
4100  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/29/28/8897.full
SO  - J. Neurosci.2009 Jul 15; 29
AB  - The present twin study investigates heritability of motor cortex excitability, measured by the paired pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation technique. Specifically, intracortical facilitation (ICF) and inhibition (ICI) and corticospinal excitability were tested in monozygotic (MZ), dizygotic (DZ), and unrelated pairs (UP). Robust ICF and ICI effects were found, with a higher similarity of MZ than DZ and UP pairs. Heritability estimates (h2) were 0.80 for ICI and 0.92 for ICF. However, corticospinal excitability did not show significant differences between MZ and DZ pairs, whereas both significantly differed from UP. Hence, the study provides—for the first time—a clear evidence of heritable individual differences in motor cortex excitability.