We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Microstructural and functional plasticity following repeated brain stimulation during cognitive training in older adults.
- Authors
Antonenko, Daria; Fromm, Anna Elisabeth; Thams, Friederike; Grittner, Ulrike; Meinzer, Marcus; Flöel, Agnes
- Abstract
The combination of repeated behavioral training with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) holds promise to exert beneficial effects on brain function beyond the trained task. However, little is known about the underlying mechanisms. We performed a monocenter, single-blind randomized, placebo-controlled trial comparing cognitive training to concurrent anodal tDCS (target intervention) with cognitive training to concurrent sham tDCS (control intervention), registered at ClinicalTrial.gov (Identifier NCT03838211). The primary outcome (performance in trained task) and secondary behavioral outcomes (performance on transfer tasks) were reported elsewhere. Here, underlying mechanisms were addressed by pre-specified analyses of multimodal magnetic resonance imaging before and after a three-week executive function training with prefrontal anodal tDCS in 48 older adults. Results demonstrate that training combined with active tDCS modulated prefrontal white matter microstructure which predicted individual transfer task performance gain. Training-plus-tDCS also resulted in microstructural grey matter alterations at the stimulation site, and increased prefrontal functional connectivity. We provide insight into the mechanisms underlying neuromodulatory interventions, suggesting tDCS-induced changes in fiber organization and myelin formation, glia-related and synaptic processes in the target region, and synchronization within targeted functional networks. These findings advance the mechanistic understanding of neural tDCS effects, thereby contributing to more targeted neural network modulation in future experimental and translation tDCS applications. The neural mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of behavioural training in combination with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) are not well understood. Here, the authors combine cognitive training with tDCS, showing a modulation of prefrontal white and grey matter microstructure, and increased prefrontal functional connectivity.
- Subjects
COGNITIVE training; BRAIN stimulation; TRANSCRANIAL direct current stimulation; OLDER people; WHITE matter (Nerve tissue); MAGNETIC resonance imaging; TASK performance
- Publication
Nature Communications, 2023, Vol 14, Issue 1, p1
- ISSN
2041-1723
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/s41467-023-38910-x