Exploring the connectivity between the cerebellum and facial motor cortex

ranscranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) delivered over the cer-ebellum 5e7 ms prior to a stimulus applied over the contralateralM1 reduced the excitability of M1 corticospinal outputs. This phenomenon is termed cerebellar brain inhibition (CBI). It remains unknown whether CBI is pre-sent in face M1 (fM). Fourteen right-handed healthy volunteers (9 females;28.77±1.11 years old) participated in this study. Electromyographic activity (EMG) was recorded from the right depressor anguli oris muscle (DAO). We reported the first evidence of cerebellar-M1 connectivity for the representation of the DAO in healthy subjects. Similar to CBIfor the hand and leg representations, the timing and location of cerebellar stimulation prior to probing cortical excitability was critical suggesting that the same pathways targeted with paired-pulseTMS for limb M1 extends to the cerebellar connection with fM1.