Dataset Information

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in depression induces structural plasticity.

ABSTRACT: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive neuromodulation technique involving administration of well-tolerated electrical current to the brain through scalp electrodes. TDCS may improve symptoms in neuropsychiatric disorders, but mixed results from recent clinical trials underscore the need to demonstrate that tDCS can modulate clinically relevant brain systems over time in patients. Here, we analyzed longitudinal structural MRI data from a randomized, double-blind, parallel-design clinical trial in depression (NCT03556124, N = 59) to investigate whether serial tDCS individually targeted to the left dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) can induce neurostructural changes. Significant (FWEc p < 0.05) treatment-related gray matter changes were observed with active high-definition (HD) tDCS relative to sham tDCS within the left DLPFC stimulation target. No changes were observed with active conventional tDCS. A follow-up analysis within individual treatment groups revealed significant gray matter increases with active HD-tDCS in brain regions functionally connected with the stimulation target, including the bilateral DLPFC, bilateral posterior cingulate cortex, subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, and the right hippocampus, thalamus and left caudate brain regions. Integrity of blinding was verified, no significant differences in stimulation-related discomfort were observed between treatment groups, and tDCS treatments were not augmented by any other adjunct treatments. Overall, these results demonstrate that serial HD-tDCS leads to neurostructural changes at a predetermined brain target in depression and suggest that such plasticity effects may propagate over brain networks.

SUBMITTER: Jog MA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9938111 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in depression induces structural plasticity.

Jog Mayank A MA Anderson Cole C Kubicki Antoni A Boucher Michael M Leaver Amber A Hellemann Gerhard G Iacoboni Marco M Woods Roger R Narr Katherine K

Scientific reports 20230217 1

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive neuromodulation technique involving administration of well-tolerated electrical current to the brain through scalp electrodes. TDCS may improve symptoms in neuropsychiatric disorders, but mixed results from recent clinical trials underscore the need to demonstrate that tDCS can modulate clinically relevant brain systems over time in patients. Here, we analyzed longitudinal structural MRI data from a randomized, double-blind, parall ...[more]

PMID: 36801903

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Project description:Although posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; DSM-V 309.82) and anxiety disorders (DSM-V 300.xx) are widely spread mental disorders, the effectiveness of their therapy is still unsatisfying. Non-invasive brain-stimulation techniques like transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) might be an option to improve extinction learning, which is a main functional factor of exposure-based therapy for anxiety disorders. To examine this hypothesis, we used a fear conditioning paradigm with female faces as conditioned stimuli (CS) and a 95-dB female scream as unconditioned stimulus (UCS). We aimed to perform a tDCS of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), which is mainly involved in the control of extinction-processes. Therefore, we applied two 4 × 4 cm electrodes approximately at the EEG-positions F7 and F8 and used a direct current of 1.5 mA. The 20-min stimulation was started during a 10-min break between acquisition and extinction and went on overall extinction-trials. The healthy participants were randomly assigned in two double-blinded process into two sham stimulation and two verum stimulation groups with opposite current flow directions. To measure the fear reactions, we used skin conductance responses (SCR) and subjective ratings. We performed a generalized estimating equations model for the SCR to assess the impact of tDCS and current flow direction on extinction processes for all subjects that showed a successful conditioning (N = 84). The results indicate that tDCS accelerates early extinction processes with a significantly faster loss of CS+/CS- discrimination. The discrimination loss was driven by a significant decrease in reaction toward the CS+ as well as an increase in reaction toward the CS- in the tDCS verum groups, whereas the sham groups showed no significant reaction changes during this period. Therefore, we assume that tDCS of the vmPFC can be used to enhance early extinction processes successfully. But before it should be tested in a clinical context further investigation is needed to assess the reason for the reaction increase on CS-. If this negative side effect can be avoided, tDCS may be a tool to improve exposure-based anxiety therapies.

Dataset Information

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in depression induces structural plasticity.

Publications

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in depression induces structural plasticity.

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