Physiological Basis of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation

By C. J. Stagg, Michael A. Nitsche. The Neuroscientist, 2011

1,628 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Since the rediscovery of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) about 10 years ago, interest in tDCS has grown exponentially. A noninvasive stimulation technique that induces robust excitability changes within the stimulated cortex, tDCS is increasingly being used in proof-of-principle and stage IIa clinical trials in a wide range of neurological and psychiatric disorders. Alongside these clinical studies, detailed work has been performed to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the observed effects. In this review, the authors bring together the results from these pharmacological, neurophysiological, and imaging studies to describe their current knowledge of the physiological effects of tDCS. In addition, the theoretical framework for how tDCS affects motor learning is proposed.

Subfields: Neurology, Surgery

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/4b1e6807c317e3b590c9427b2d3351dff4535fbd

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Citations in the corpus

Quantitative Review Finds No Evidence of Cognitive Effects in Healthy Populations From Single-session Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS). (2015, background): “The first occurs during stimulation and involves ionic concentration shifts within the extracellular fluid which serve to modulate neuronal resting membrane potentials thereby hypo- and hyperpolarizing neurons underlying the anode and cathode, respectively [3].”
Combining non-invasive transcranial brain stimulation with neuroimaging and electrophysiology: Current approaches and future perspectives (2016, positive): “However, TDCSmay induce shifts in neural excitability of corticospinal neurons in the primarymotor cortex, which can be assessed online and offline by TMS (Nitsche et al., 2008; Nitsche and Paulus, 2000; Stagg and Nitsche, 2011).”
Enhancing vigilance in operators with prefrontal cortex transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) (2014, methodology): “This noninvasive method, which alters spontaneous neuronal firing among other things, has been described as inducing a temporary “LTP-like” or “LTD-like” plasticity state, depending on the electrode being used (Stagg and Nitsche, 2011).”
A technical guide to tDCS, and related non-invasive brain stimulation tools (2015, background): “…result in after-effects lasting for approximately 1 h (5 " 7 cm electrodes, motor cortex-contralateral supraorbital ridge electrode arrangement (Nitsche and Paulus, 2000, 2001; Nitsche et al., 2003); for an overview about the physiological foundation of after-effects see Stagg and Nitsche (2011).”
Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT) 2016 Clinical Guidelines for the Management of Adults with Major Depressive Disorder (2016, background): “Repeated use of tDCS may lead to neuroplasticity effects similar to long-term potentiation and/or long-term depression, perhaps mediated via N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor-dependent mechanisms.(4) Potential advantages of tDCS include ease of use, low cost, portability and potential for home-based use”
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews Auditory Verbal Hallucinations as Atypical Inner Speech Monitoring, and the Potential of Neurostimulation as a Treatment Option (neutral): “Importantly, effects of tDCS which outlast the stimulation period are often observed, probably due to longer term GABAergic and glutamatergic mechanisms (Stagg and Nitsche, 2011), leading to studies into whether this technique could be used therapeutically for neurological and psychiatric disorders.”
Modulating prefrontal cortex activity to alleviate stress-induced working memory deficits: A transcranial direct current (tDCS) study (2024, unknown): “…resting membrane potentials (acute effects) and induces neuroplastic effects via prolonged stimulation by glutamatergic synaptic mechanisms (Stagg & Nitsche, 2011). tDCS also allows investigation of the causal contribution of brain areas and networks to psychological processes by exploring…”
Closing the loop between brain and electrical stimulation: towards precision neuromodulation treatments (2023, background): “…that are too weak to suf ﬁ ciently depolarize cortical neurons to induce action potentials [57], but alter spontaneous brain activity [58, 59]. tES is used in a wide variety of applications in health and disease to change the excitability of the targeted brain area/network both acutely…”
Inferring Causality from Noninvasive Brain Stimulation in Cognitive Neuroscience (2020, background): “…201 For TCS, the E-field is much weaker and assumed to merely shift the membrane potential slightly toward depolarization or hyperpolarization, changing neuronal excitability on a subthreshold scale (Liu et al., 2018; Stagg & Nitsche, 2011), either constantly (TDCS) or rhythmically (TACS).”