Neuromodulation : journal of the International Neuromodulation Society
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Electric Field Strength From Prefrontal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Determines Degree of Working Memory Response: A Potential Application of Reverse-Calculation Modeling?
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) for working memory is an enticing treatment, but there is mixed evidence to date. ⋯ Higher electric fields at the left DLPFC from uniform 2 mA doses appear to drive working memory improvements from tDCS. Individualized doses from reverse-calculation modeling significantly reduce electric field variance at the cortex. Taken together, using reverse-calculation modeling to produce the same, high electric fields at the cortex across participants may produce more effective future tDCS treatments for working memory.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Resting-State Network Changes Following Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Patients With Aphasia-A Randomized Controlled Study.
Although repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has exhibited promising efficacy in treating stroke-related aphasia, changes in neuroimaging in response to this therapy remain unclear. ⋯ The Clinicaltrials.gov registration number for the study is NCT03059225.
-
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been extensively used for the treatment of depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and certain neurologic disorders. Despite having promising treatment efficacy, the fundamental neural mechanisms of TMS remain understudied. ⋯ The Clinicaltrials.gov registration number for the study is NCT03394066.
-
Time awareness may change depending on the mental state or disease conditions, although each individual perceives his/her own sense of time as stable and accurate. Nevertheless, the processes that consolidate altered duration production remain unclear. The present study aimed to manipulate the subjective duration production via memory consolidation through the modulation of neural plasticity. ⋯ These findings suggest that, while learned altered duration production decays over several hours, QPS over the right DLPFC enables the consolidation of newly learned duration production.
-
The efficacy of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in clinically relevant neuroplasticity research depends on the degree to which stimulation induces robust, reliable effects. The high degree of interindividual and intraindividual variability observed in response to rTMS protocols, such as continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS), therefore represents an obstacle to its utilization as treatment for neurological disorders. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a protein involved in human synaptic and neural plasticity, and a common polymorphism in the BDNF gene (Val66Met) may influence the capacity for neuroplastic changes that underlie the effects of cTBS and other rTMS protocols. While evidence from healthy individuals suggests that Val66Met polymorphism carriers may show diminished or facilitative effects of rTMS compared to their homozygous Val66Val counterparts, this has yet to be demonstrated in the patient populations where neuromodulatory therapies are most relevant. ⋯ Our findings strongly suggest that BDNF genotype differentially affects neuroplastic responses to TMS in individuals with chronic stroke. This provides novel insight into potential sources of variability in cTBS response in patients, which has important implications for optimizing the utility of this neuromodulation approach. Incorporating BDNF polymorphism genetic screening to stratify patients prior to use of cTBS as a neuromodulatory technique in therapy or research may optimize response rates.