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Effects of bifrontal transcranial direct current stimulation on brain glutamate levels and resting state connectivity: multimodal MRI data for the cathodal stimulation site.

ABSTRACT: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over prefrontal cortex (PFC) regions is currently proposed as therapeutic intervention for major depression and other psychiatric disorders. The in-depth mechanistic understanding of this bipolar and non-focal stimulation technique is still incomplete. In a pilot study, we investigated the effects of bifrontal stimulation on brain metabolite levels and resting state connectivity under the cathode using multiparametric MRI techniques and computational tDCS modeling. Within a double-blind cross-over design, 20 subjects (12 women, 23.7?±?2 years) were randomized to active tDCS with standard bifrontal montage with the anode over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the cathode over the right DLPFC. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) was acquired before, during, and after prefrontal tDCS to quantify glutamate (Glu), Glu?+?glutamine (Glx) and gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) concentration in these areas. Resting-state functional connectivity MRI (rsfcMRI) was acquired before and after the stimulation. The individual distribution of tDCS induced electric fields (efields) within the MRS voxel was computationally modelled using SimNIBS 2.0. There were no significant changes of Glu, Glx and GABA levels across conditions but marked differences in the course of Glu levels between female and male participants were observed. Further investigation yielded a significantly stronger Glu reduction after active compared to sham stimulation in female participants, but not in male participants. For rsfcMRI neither significant changes nor correlations with MRS data were observed. Exploratory analyses of the effect of efield intensity distribution on Glu changes showed distinct effects in different efield groups. Our findings are limited by the small sample size, but correspond to previously published results of cathodal tDCS. Future studies should address gender and efield intensity as moderators of tDCS induced effects.

SUBMITTER: Mezger E

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7867555 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Effects of bifrontal transcranial direct current stimulation on brain glutamate levels and resting state connectivity: multimodal MRI data for the cathodal stimulation site.

Mezger Eva E Rauchmann Boris-Stephan BS Brunoni Andre R AR Bulubas Lucia L Thielscher Axel A Werle Jana J Mortazavi Matin M Karali Temmuz T Stöcklein Sophia S Ertl-Wagner Birgit B Goerigk Stephan S Padberg Frank F Keeser Daniel D

European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience 20200802 1

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over prefrontal cortex (PFC) regions is currently proposed as therapeutic intervention for major depression and other psychiatric disorders. The in-depth mechanistic understanding of this bipolar and non-focal stimulation technique is still incomplete. In a pilot study, we investigated the effects of bifrontal stimulation on brain metabolite levels and resting state connectivity under the cathode using multiparametric MRI techniques and computationa ...[more]

PMID: 32743758

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Project description:Working memory (WM) often is impaired in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Such impairment may underlie core deficits in cognition and social functioning. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been shown to enhance WM in both healthy adults and clinical populations, but its efficacy in ASD is unknown. We predicted that bifrontal tDCS would improve WM performances of adults with high-functioning autism during active stimulation compared to sham stimulation and that such enhancement would generalize to an untrained task.Twelve adults with high-functioning ASD engaged in a battery of WM tasks that included backward spatial span, backward digit span, spatial n-back and letter n-back. While engaged, 40 min of 1.5 mA bifrontal stimulation was applied over the left and the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortices (DLPFC). Using a single-blind crossover design, each participant received left anodal/right cathodal stimulation, right anodal/left cathodal stimulation, or sham stimulation, in randomized counterbalanced order on three separate days. Following tDCS, participants again engaged in letter and spatial n-back tasks before taking the Brief Test of Attention (BTA). We used repeated-measures ANOVA to compare overall performance on the WM battery as measured by a composite of z-scores for all five measures. Post hoc ANOVAs, t tests, Friedman's tests, and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to measure the online and offline effects of tDCS and to assess performances on individual measures.Compared to sham stimulation, both left DLPFC anodal stimulation (t11 = 5.4, p = 0.0002) and right DLPFC anodal stimulation (t11 = 3.57, p = 0.004) improved overall WM performance. Left anodal stimulation (t11 = 3.9, p = 0.003) and right anodal stimulation (t11 = 2.7, p = 0.019) enhanced performances during stimulation. Enhancement transferred to an untrained task 50 min after right anodal stimulation (z11 = 2.263, p = 0.024). The tasks that showed the largest effects of active stimulation were spatial span backward (z11 = 2.39, p = 0.017) and BTA (z11 = 2.263, p = 0.024).In adults with high-functioning ASD, active bifrontal tDCS given during WM tasks appears to improve performance. TDCS benefits also transferred to an untrained task completed shortly after stimulation. These results suggest that tDCS can improve WM task performance and could reduce some core deficits of autism.NCT01602263.

Dataset Information

Effects of bifrontal transcranial direct current stimulation on brain glutamate levels and resting state connectivity: multimodal MRI data for the cathodal stimulation site.

Publications

Effects of bifrontal transcranial direct current stimulation on brain glutamate levels and resting state connectivity: multimodal MRI data for the cathodal stimulation site.

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