Effect of white matter anisotropy in modeling electroconvulsive therapy

Abstract

White matter in the brain exhibits strong anisotropic conductivity. Modeling studies on electroencephalography have found that such anisotropic conductivity greatly influences the estimated dipole source. In this study, we made a detailed comparison of the effects of conductivity anisotropy using a computational model of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). The human head model was a high resolution finite element model generated from MRI scans, implemented with tissue heterogeneity and an excitable neural model incorporated in the brain. Results showed that anisotropy in conductivity had minimal effects on the location of the brain region that was maximally activated, but it had relatively large effects on deep brain structures.

Pre-treatment attentional processing speed and antidepressant response to transcranial direct current stimulation: Results from an international randomized controlled trial

“…Computational modelling of the tDCS stimulus has indeed suggested that white matter anisotropy is highly related to the distribution of the tDCS electric field, particularly in subcortical regions (Bai et al, 2011;Suh et al, 2012).…”