Can transcranial direct current stimulation counteract age-associated functional impairment?

Perceval, Garon; Flöel, Agnes; Meinzer, Marcus

doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.03.028

Cited by 83 publications

(79 citation statements)

References 83 publications

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“…As a final note, we caution that the evidence we have presented herein stems largely from healthy young adult populations and a few animal studies. The extent to which these lessons can be extrapolated to clinical studies and vulnerable populations is unknown and should be approached with care (e.g., Perceval et al 2016). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimizing Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Protocols to Promote Long-Term Learning

Karsten

Buschkuehl

et al. 2017

J Cogn Enhanc

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Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a form of non-invasive brain stimulation that has the potential to induce polarity-specific changes in neural activity within targeted brain regions. There is growing interest in the use of this technology for the enhancement of higher cognitive functions, and application of tDCS directly before or concomitant with task performance has shown promise in modulating a range of behavioral outcomes, including motor skill acquisition, working memory performance, and implicit and explicit learning. The proposed mechanism for the observed enhancements is a temporary and targeted shift in the excitability of the cortical regions that subserve the relevant tasks, lasting from minutes up to about an hour after cessation of stimulation. Although empirical work does support at least a partial role for this mechanism, an arguably more potent but relatively underexplored phenomenon is thought to occur in the hours or days after stimulation-that is, a facilitation of consolidative processes. Here, we review the literature describing the nature of tDCS-enhanced consolidation and argue that some of the mixed results among the single-session studies that currently dominate the extant literature may be explained by a failure to take advantage of these potentially powerful offline effects. Accordingly, we further contend that the full potential of tDCS cannot be truly realized without a longitudinal design which allows for tDCS to act directly upon learning by promoting consolidation between sessions. Finally, we review preliminary evidence that these consolidation effects can be even further enhanced via strategically spaced out stimulation sessions, which take advantage of a long-held tenet in the literature that distributed learning produces better outcomes than massed learning. We conclude by proposing potential study designs to encourage the use of tDCS as more than merely a method to promote temporary enhancement, but also a technique to enhance long-term learning.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimizing Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Protocols to Promote Long-Term Learning

Karsten

Buschkuehl

et al. 2017

J Cogn Enhanc

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“…Another aspect to be considered regards the emerging information about the role of age-associated brain reorganization in the clinical response to different tDCS protocols applied with the aim to improve functional impairment. Indeed, though encouraging results have been reported in older adults, evidence has been also provided that different, even opposite effects may be observed when different tDCS montages are applied to improve motor and cognitive function in elderly subjects as compared to young individuals (Dumel et al, 2016; Perceval et al, 2016; Fujiyama et al, 2017). Thus in the future, not only disease-related brain abnormalities but also age-related brain plastic changes will have to be taken into account when planning a tDCS treatment in patients with PD.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of More-Affected vs. Less-Affected Motor Cortex tDCS in Parkinson’s Disease

Cosentino

Valentino

Todisco

et al. 2017

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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Objective: To evaluate therapeutic potential of different montages of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in Parkinson’s Disease (PD) patients with asymmetric motor symptoms.Materials and Methods: Fourteen patients with asymmetric PD underwent, while on treatment, seven separate sessions including electrophysiological and clinical evaluation at baseline and after anodal, cathodal and sham tDCS of the primary motor cortex (M1) of the two hemispheres. Changes in motor cortical excitability were evaluated by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Effects on motor symptoms were assessed by testing finger tapping (FT) and upper limb bradykinesia, and by using the Italian validated Movement Disorder Society revision of the Unified PD Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS).Results: Only anodal tDCS of the more-affected M1 (contralateral to the more-affected body side) and cathodal tDCS of the less-affected M1 (contralateral to the less-affected body side) were able to induce significant changes in cortical excitability, i.e., facilitation and inhibition of the motor evoked potentials respectively. The motor performances of both hands significantly improved after anodal tDCS of the more-affected M1, as well as after cathodal tDCS of the less-affected one.Conclusion: Our findings support the potential usefulness of tDCS as add-on treatment for asymmetric PD, also providing interesting clues on the possible pathophysiological role played by an asymmetric activation of homologous motor cortical areas in PD.

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“…Noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS), most commonly repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), have been used to modulate motor and cognitive functions in human subjects (Brunoni et al, 2012;Bütefisch, Khurana, Kopylev, & Cohen, 2004;Duque et al, 2007;Jahanshahi & Rothwell, 2000;Marshall, Helgadottir, Molle, & Born, 2006;Perceval, Floel, & Meinzer, 2016;Wassermann, Tormos, & Pascual-Leone, 1998) (Figure 1) a . It has been argued that rTMS and tDCS can either enhance or decrease excitability in targeted cortical regions depending on the parameters of stimulation employed (Chen et al, 1997;Galea, Jayaram, Ajagbe, & Celnik, 2009;Labruna et al, 2016;Woods et al, 2016) and the underlying intrinsic state of the stimulated brain networks (Dayan, Censor, Buch, Sandrini, & Cohen, 2013;Sandrini, Umilta, & Rusconi, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of tDCS on motor learning and memory formation: A consensus and critical position paper

Buch

Santarnecchi

Antal

et al. 2017

Clinical Neurophysiology

297

267

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Motor skills are required for activities of daily living. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) applied in association with motor skill learning has been investigated as a tool for enhancing training effects in health and disease. Here, we review the published literature investigating whether tDCS can facilitate the acquisition and retention of motor skills and adaptation. A majority of reports focused on the application of anodal tDCS over the primary motor cortex (M1) during motor skill acquisition, while some evaluated tDCS applied over the cerebellum during adaptation of existing motor skills. Work in multiple laboratories is under way to develop a mechanistic understanding of tDCS effects on different forms of learning, and to optimize stimulation protocols.Efforts are required to improve reproducibility and standardization. Overall, reproducibility remains to be fully tested, effect sizes with present techniques are moderate (up to d= 0.5) (Hashemirad, Zoghi, Fitzgerald, & Jaberzadeh, 2016) and the basis of inter-individual variability in tDCS effects is incompletely understood. It is recommended that future studies explicitly state in the Methods the exploratory (hypothesisgenerating) or hypothesis-driven (confirmatory) nature of the experimental designs. General research practices could be improved with prospective pre-registration of hypothesis-based investigations, more emphasis on detailed description of methods and use of post-publication open data repositories. A checklist is proposed for reporting tDCS investigations in a way that can improve efforts to assess reproducibility.

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Can transcranial direct current stimulation counteract age-associated functional impairment?

Cited by 83 publications

References 83 publications

Optimizing Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Protocols to Promote Long-Term Learning

Optimizing Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Protocols to Promote Long-Term Learning

Effects of More-Affected vs. Less-Affected Motor Cortex tDCS in Parkinson’s Disease

Effects of tDCS on motor learning and memory formation: A consensus and critical position paper

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